Mackintosh High School
by Euphrasie Hazel
Summary: The characters from POTO and Les Mis go to a regular high school. Plenty of romance, friendships and drama! Featuring Marius, Cosette, Eponine, Raoul, Christine, Erik, Meg Giry and all of the Friends of the ABC!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Marius's father had given him a car for the summer. It was just an old, blue convertible from the 80's, but it was still a car that he hadn't earned himself. His best friend, Enjolras, constantly made fun of him for the random gift of the convertible. In his older friend's eyes, Marius was spoiled. However, Enjolras didn't object to riding with his friend in the classic convertible on the first day of school.

Richard Enjolras (who went strictly by his last name, Marius never knew why) was from a wealthy family himself, but took it to himself to earn everything he needed. Marius sometimes couldn't stand how perfect Enjolras presented himself; captain of their school's lacrosse team, starter on the football team, a straight A student and regular volunteer at the Alfred Town Food Pantry and their town's Congregational church.

"Hey, Enjolras," Marius greeted, watching his best friend sit down in the passenger seat. Enjolras grinned back, his messy blonde hair nearly covering his eyes.

"Junior year is the worst year," he taunted Marius, who tried to shrug it off. He knew it was true, it was the year where grades and SAT scores came into play. He needed to be as perfect as Enjolras, a senior who could sleep easily with his early acceptance into Princeton.

The two boys kept a simple conversation going, talking about the new school year and the teachers they had. As it turned out, Marius was in the same history and math class as Enjolras, they were his two best subjects.

"See, and you think I'm so smart, you're in a senior history and math class!" Enjolras exclaimed, nudging Marius. He shyed away from his friend's compliment.

"I think Eponine's in our history class and she's a junior, too," ,Marius protested. Eponine, though terrible at math and science, was always in the best classes for history.

The boys had been best friends since they were little, as they had grown up in the same neighborhood, but Enjolras quickly befriended Eponine Thenardier when she became a close friend of Marius in the fifth grade.

In fact, that was the exact person Marius was meaning to pick up on their first day of school, too. It was a long drive to where Eponine lived, she was the polar opposite of Marius and Enjolras family-wise. She lived in the poorest area of the fairly large town of Alfred, New Hampshire, with the parents who were definitely the worst in town.

The Thenardier household was a small one, with a roof that was falling apart and and a beaten down porch. A girl, about sixteen, sat on the steps of the porch. Usually, when Marius picked up Eponine during their sophomore year she would be sitting with her little brother, Gavroche. However, her brother had graduated to the sixth grade and the middle school bus came earlier than the elementary school one. She looked lonely and out of place without him.

"Hi, guys," she said, jumping into the back seat of the convertible without hesitation. Eponine was pretty, but messy. Her clothes weren't very nice, she didn't wear any makeup and her long, brown hair was never styled nicely. However, she was good-looking in her own way.

"I have both of your parents this year," Enjolras informed her, faking a shudder at the thought of her dreadful parents, who were also dreadful teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Thenardier made enough money as teachers at Mackintosh High School to support Eponine and her brother, but spent their earnings mostly on parties and alcohol. They rarely paid attention to their two children and were usually cruel instead.

They talked a bit more, while Marius brought them to Mackintosh High School, a building that suddenly burst with life after being so quiet all summer. A few people greeted the three of them, while they watched all the upperclassmen excitedly chat with friends they haven't seen for months and freshmen stumble nervously in large groups, looking for their new classes.

"Senior class meeting is in the gym," Enjolras muttered, while reading the large board propped in front of the school doors. "See you guys later."

Marius and Eponine waked through the halls as quickly as they could, trying to dodge the equally fast moving people as skillfully as he could. However, Marius still managed to fall straight into a girl. Eponine tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes and laugh. The girl was much smaller than him, and she fell against the hallway floor. Marius panicked to himself and hurriedly helped the girl up.

She was small, but definitely was around their age. Eponine had to admit, she was really pretty with nice clothes and long, blonde hair neatly styled back.

"Uhm, I, uh. I didn't see you there," Marius managed to stutter out, slightly blushing. "I'm sorry."

Eponine didn't think much of her friend's shyness. He had always been shy around girls, besides her. However, as she looked at the girl (equally as red) her heart began to pound with jealously, and then just sadness. Why didn't Marius ever feel the same way she did?

"It's alright," she said shyly, letting him help her up. Marius, with a surge of confidence, spoke again.

"My name is Marius Pontmercy," he told her, rolling his eyes at his own stupidity. Why did he say his full name? It was so French... she probably wouldn't like it. She giggled a little bit, nervously putting a strand of hair behind her ear.

"And mine's Cosette," she introduced. Cosette realized how closely they stood after he had helped her up, and quickly stepped back a bit.

"Are you new here?" Marius asked, trying to keep a conversation with this girl. The answer was an obvious yes, he would have seen her before.

"Very new, we just came here a couple of weeks ago."

"Do you know where to go?" he asked politely, momentarily forgetting Eponine was with him in the first place.

"Well..." she began, trying not to bother him, "Uh, no. I actually am completely lost. Someone told me I was suppose go to the library?"

"Oh, the library! Yeah, the library. That's where our class meeting is. You must be a junior, then. Every first day of school all of the different grades meet before classes start," Marius said, "I can take you."

"You would? Thank you so much," she said honestly. Cosette smiled greatfully, and followed him down the hall.

Eponine followed them closely behind, waiting for when her best friend would remember that she existed. Marius looked back at her, and his eyes widened with a look of extreme guilt of forgetting about her.

"Cosette, this is my best friend, Eponine. Eponine, Cosette," Marius introduced, and Eponine finally got the chance to look at the girl closer.

"Nice to meet you," Cosette said kindly. Eponine smiled back as best she could.

She really was pretty, and it was no surprise why Marius had suddenly acquired such a crush. Cosette was well-put together and although she was definitely new to town, there was also something about her that was familiar, too. No matter how nice she was, though, Eponine still couldn't bring herself to like Cosette.

In fact, she wanted to cry as she followed the two towards the library. Marius and Eponine had been best friends since fifth grade, so she had harboured a secret crush on him since fifth grade. It was a well-kept secret. No one had any idea, not even Enjolras. She didn't really have any female friends to confide in and her mother was definitely out of the question. No one had a clue how much she liked him. Even Eponine didn't like to admit it to herself, but yes, it was true. She undeniably had a crush on Marius Pontmercy.

Marius was a casual dater, he had taken some girl named Meg Giry to homecoming their Sophmore year. However, Eponine went with Harry Courfeyrac, their mutual friend, and never thought anything of it. In fact, Marius went on a few more dates with Meg, but it never worked out much. Eponine herself never had a boyfriend, because no one could ever measure up to her feelings for Marius.

She sat at one of the many library tables set up that day with Marius and Cosette, along with some other junior friends in the packed room. Eponine listened to the class advisor talk a bit about the school year to come, but just barely. All she could focus on Marius, and that wasn't like her at all.

Of course, she liked Marius, but it never consumed her thoughts like most girls. Now it was all she could think about. Why did he like that girl, that Cosette, who simply fell out of nowhere?

Cosette... Cosette... Cosette. The cute, little name repeated itself over and over in her head.

As the day went on, Eponine gradually began to forget about Marius and Cosette. She didn't have any classes with her and whenever she had a class with Marius, they simply talked about anything besides his new crush. However, he did seem different since that morning. His head was off in the clouds, as if only a part of him was on earth, talking to Eponine.

Although, by the end of the day, Marius was more than happy to give Cosette a ride home. While he remembered that Enjolras needed a way home, too, Eponine was left to walk home by herself, torturing herself with thoughts of Marius and Cosette.

After a fairly long walk home from school and about twenty minutes of homework, Eponine finally remembered why Cosette was such a familiar face.

And that just made everything ten times worse.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're up early," Jean Valjean commented. Cosette spun around to look at her father. It was only about 7:00 (school started at 8:00) and she was already showered and dressed.

"I'm nervous," she admitted, "new year, I don't even know anyone..."

"Oh, you'll do fine," he assured her, making two cups of coffee. He handed her one and she gratefully took it, as if to drink away her nerves. They sat and talked together, making Cosette think of how lucky she was to have her father.

She knew her story well. Her childhood could easily become a lifetime movie. Cosette was the bastard child of a man named Felix and his girlfriend, Fantine. However, Felix soon abandoned the twenty-year-old Fantine, leaving the orphan girl by herself. With no money and a child, she sent Cosette away to live with strangers and became a prostitute forced to live on the streets. It was Valjean, the aging mayor at the time, who had finally saved her. He found her on the streets and heroically took her to the hospital. Two days later, she dramatically died while he came to visit her and Jean Valjean took it to himself to save her eight-year-old daughter from the cruel people she was forced to live with while her mother worked. Cosette had lived as Valjean's daughter ever since.

Cosette, honestly, didn't remember her life before meeting Valjean. She had sort of mentally blocked it from her mind. She didn't remember her mother at all, and especially not her father. However, Jean Valjean was all the father she ever would need. If Felix was still alive (which he probably was), Cosette had no desire to meet him. If the people she lived with were still alive, she didn't want to meet them, either.

She knew something like a new school wasn't suppose to scare someone like her, but Cosette was still terrified. About an hour later, she found herself standing (a bit awkwardly) outside of Mackintosh High School, a fairly large building, but an average school.

No one had told her where to go or what to do and she watched, with her heart slightly sinking, as her father drove away.

"Um, excuse me?" Cosette called, desperately trying to seek help in the crowd of people. Someone finally had helped her and mentioned something about going to the library. It was all so confusing.

Nervously and trying to hurry, she found herself falling onto the floor. Cosette didn't even realize she had fallen into a boy until she looked up to see a friendly face offering to help her up. They talked for a while and he seemed nice, she even had to admit that he was really adorable.

He introduced himself as Marius Pontmercy, a junior like her. Marius also had a friend that was with them named Eponine who seemed sort of shy in comparison to her extremely friendly companion. There was a small assembly for all of the incoming juniors in the library that morning and afterwords, first period.

Marius escorted her to her first class, which unfortunately wasn't with him or Eponine. Cosette didn't need to have a class with him, but it would still be nice to be able to sit with someone she at least somewhat knew.

Her first class was with Mr. Andre's English class. Her teacher didn't really present himself as very knowledgeable or kind, he kind of passed himself off as uninterested. However, English was easily Cosette's favorite subject, so it didn't matter what type of teacher she had.

All in all, her first four morning classes seemed typical. She didn't really meet anyone new, but all some of the girls looked like they were friendly and no one struck her as mean. The woman who was in charge of her study hall, Mrs. Guidicelli, seemed overly dramatic and unpleasant, but she was the most exciting part of her day so far.

It was lunch time Cosette was dreading the most, where was she going to sit? Standing in the long lunch line, she scanned the giant cafeteria in hopes of finding Marius, or even his friend Eponine. However, she couldn't find either of them.

With a tray of milk, an apple and sandwich (Cosette didn't really even know what was in it), she surveyed the cafeteria, but no one seemed to want to offer up a seat. She started to grow anxious, realizing that she had no where to sit. And she didn't want to sit with the dorks of the school because she didn't want to be labeled as a nerd on the first day. Maybe she could go sit in the bathroom and eat, just for that day...

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you," a voice said from behind her, making Cosette jump slightly. She turned around to see a tiny, blonde girl who smiled at her. Cosette laughed at her joke, feeling a sense of relief. At least someone was talking to her.

"I'm completely serious, the food here is disgusting. My name is Meg, I'm guessing you're new? I've never seen you before," the girl said.

"I'm Cosette. Oh, and I'm new. I just moved here this summer," she managed to say, mentally scolding herself for sounding so awkward.

"Do you want to sit with my friend and I?" Meg asked, motioning towards a table where a girl sat by herself across from a packed lunchbox. Cosette nodded and smiled, happy to follow the blonde girl.

The other girl, Meg's friend, lifted her head to see Cosette and smiled at her. "Hello," she greeted.

"Christine, this is Cosette. Christine is my best friend," Meg introduced.

"Are you new this year?" Christine asked politely, she nodded again.

"I'm a junior," she said, trying her best to start a conversation. Christine and Meg offered to give Cosette parts of their lunches that they packed for themselves. Meg was completely right, the food was absolutely disgusting, but at least she had made two new friends.

Christine, a senior, and Meg, a junior, had been best friends back since Christine was a second grader and they were on the same bus. They also shared a love for the arts, Christine liked singing and Meg was a dancer. However, their personalities were different. Meg was loud and talkative, while Christine was much more reserved and quiet, even her tone of voice was much softer in comparison to her friend.

The lunch period ended sooner than Cosette had wanted it to and she could only hope the girls liked her. They seemed to, at least, because both girls insisted on giving her their phone numbers. With helpful directions from Meg, she managed to find her next class, physics.

Mr. Javert was the teacher of this class, a tall man with a stern face. Immediately, she saw Marius trying to get her attention, pointing eagerly to a chair next to him. She waved to him and took a seat next to him.

They whispered to each other for a while as their science teacher went on and on about the school year to come. Luckily, they also had painting together after. By the end of the day, Marius offered to give her a ride home.

"No, I'm fine. I just need to call my father and he'll pick me up," Cosette insisted.

"It's okay, I want to," he continued. She shrugged, following him to his car.

"We just need to wait for my friend, Enjolras," Marius explained, "He can sit in the back." She laughed and they talked for a while about their school days. Cosette was really starting to like Marius, he was funny and nice. Even though it was only the first day of school, she could only hope they would remain friendly.

Finally, his senior friend, Enjolras, arrived and they could go home. Marius even insisted on buying them both ice cream and Cosette's first day ended much better than she thought it would.


	3. Chapter 3

Christine Daae was a little bit odd. She knew this, a lot of people thought this to themselves and this was true. She wasn't weird or a 'freak,' she was just kind of eccentric. "Out there" was actually the best way to describe it.

Christine lived with her mother in a small apartment. They didn't have that much money and didn't have a TV. Instead, they each had a laptop with Netflix installed in it, which actually ended up being the more affordable option. It didn't matter to Christine either way, because she preferred the internet anyway.

She didn't have a Facebook or a Twitter, but she did text. Christine wasn't a complete oddball and despite her quirks she was still considered herself popular. What made her most strange in the eyes of her classmates was probably her love of the arts. Yes, she appreciated a ballet and a da Vinci painting, but her true passion was opera.

A lot of people thought it was just bizarre. What seventeen-year-old girl would ever have any interest in opera? Even Christine accepted that it wasn't a normal interest, not when pop and rap dominated the radio. However, classical music felt like the only connection she had left with her late father, the famous, Swedish violinist, Gustav Daae. And she was good at it. If there was only one thing she was any good at all, it was music. Singing, actually.

Christine was an okay dancer, she had been playing piano for years and she always made honor roll, but singing was the only thing that she was passionate for. Singing made her happy. In fact, when she wasn't singing, Christine was most likely day dreaming about it. She sang all day, even around her friends when they were suppose to be doing something like homework. As her friend Meg often said; it was kind of like being best friends with Snow White.

Her mother probably recognized her dreams of one day playing Madame Butterfly or Princess Turnadot most of all. Her daughter would locker herself up in her room for hours at a time singing. But she wouldn't sing songs, she just sang scales, nothing but specific notes that never formed into lyrics. And, as far as Mrs. Daae knew, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday after church, Christine would take private singing lessons with one of the musicians within their church, who oddly enough, never requested money.

The one who picked on her most about her singing was probably Raoul. He was the perfect example of a gentleman, though, and his teasing was in good spirit. Raoul Chagny had been best friends with Christine since they were four years old after meeting in kindergarten.

He was also her acting chauffeur, because she didn't have a car.

In fact, she was waiting for Raoul that very night. It was a Tuesday, which was when she had choir practice at her church, the Congregational Church of Alfred. She was passionate about that particular choir, she was the only teenager that was involved and the whole of the group was mostly made up of retired people. However, any chance she took to be in a singing group worked for her. Besides, the choir director, Ginger Deerfield, was a much better musician than her school's music teacher, Mrs. Guidicelli.

After practice, she found herself waiting outside on the church's bench for Raoul in the dark. A few of the choir members passed by her and offered to give her a ride home. However, she refused, because Raoul was coming. She knew it. Time passed, and Christine considered texting him, but didn't want to sound ungrateful or impatient. Oh, whatever, she thought. It was just Raoul.

Christine opened her phone to see a text from her friend, which actually had been sent a long time ago.

_Sorry cant pick u up tonight._

She sighed, Christine's mother wouldn't be getting off from her late shift for another hour. It wouldn't do for her to stay outside and freeze, so she decided to walk into the now empty church. Even Ginger had already left.

"Waiting for someone?" a voice muttered into her ear. She jumped back at the noise that broke what was once sheer silence. Christine turned around to see a long and skinny figure complete with a mask that covered half of it's face and a black cape. To anyone else, it would have been a terrifying sight, but Christine breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Erik, it's only you," she said, and even noticed a slight smile on the angel's face.

"I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine," Christine insisted. At first, the sight of Erik did terrify her, he was not the typical picture of an angel. But, he was an angel. That was one thing Christine was absolutely positive about. There was no way this creature that dwelled in the basement of her ancient church was not an angel, and not just an angel, the Angel of Music.

Anyone would laugh at her child-like stories if she told them about her angel and dismiss her as insane. So, that was why she refused to tell anyone. No one on earth knew about the Angel of Music, the title character of her father's old fairy tales that would sing a little girl named Lotte to sleep. No one but Christine had ever heard the story, so it wasn't just someone pretending.

He had taught her the music of heaven, for he knew all of it. Erik could play any instrument that was located in his small home in the church's underground. He could play Bach's first cello suite with ease and could counter it with Tchaikovsky's famous piano concerto that made Christine's hands feel tired just watching him. The Angel of Music had taught her how to sing and the improvement she had shown in just weeks was phenomenal. She had been hitting notes she could never have imagined singing before. After a life time of believing she was a mezzo-soprano with a higher range, it was Erik that had assured her that she was a light-coloratura soprano.

"Doesn't your boyfriend usually pick you up after practice?" Erik questioned. His voice was usually monotonous, but there was a notion of bitterness at the word 'boyfriend.' Christine didn't pick up on it.

"Raoul had something tonight, so I'm stuck here for an hour," she explained, "And he isn't my boyfriend," she added, careful not to sound annoyed. She didn't want to offend the Angel of Music, in fact, that was the last person she wanted to make angry.

"I would hate to have you sit alone out here, then, should we go downstairs?"

Downstairs, of course, meant his home. Christine nodded and allowed him to lead her down below the ground to his home.

Home wasn't really the right word for where the angel lived. It made Christine wonder how something so divine could live there. He helped her down the winding stairs that started under a secret door on the lowest floor of the church. They continue to walk down. While Erik had been Christine's teacher for a year, the rats that infested the stairs still scared her. She jumped at the sight of a particularly large one and he reached out to steady her.

Erik's house was made up of one large room that doubled as a living room and a place to eat. There were two rooms branching off of it; one that was his bedroom and the other which was a room filled with instruments.

It was one of Christine's favorite places in the world. The room, which she called Erik's Music Room, was a bit messy. Sheets of self-composed music and music from others were scattered, some were carelessly thrown on the floor while others were very carefully preserved. It was filled with different instruments, including a baby grand piano, a violin, a cello, a viola, a trumpet, an old fashioned guitar and a little keyboard which was colored in with pink permanent marker. It was the instrument Erik and Christine used when working on voice. The pink represented her range, an F sharp below Middle C and an E above high C. It was a bit of a overstatement. She could sing up to the high E, but it sounded very squeaky and not pretty at all. She could sing an F below C, but she sounded like a man whenever she strained to reach it.

However, there wasn't going to be a lesson that night. She was too tired, especially after a full day of school. Erik motioned for her to sit on the small couch that he had put into the music room once she began taking lessons. He left the room and quickly returned with two cups of tea. In truth, Erik didn't have much food to offer her, but she graciously took the tea regardless.

"Today was your first day, wasn't it?" he questioned her, but Erik knew the answer was yes.

"Yeah, it went well. My French doesn't seem that great this year, but whatever."

There was an awkward pause. Christine played with her skirt, smoothing it out and twisting it between her fingers. Erik stood, watching her, feeling extremely pressured to break the silence. There was always something to talk about when they were singing.

"And... your friends, are they well?" Erik muttered, not looking at her, "Meg Giry... and everyone..."

"Yes, I met a new girl today, she was nice," Christine said, trying to talk as long as she possibly could to avoid another period of silence, "I listened to some Renata Tebaldi today, she's very good."

"Tebaldi is one of the best, you should listen to her," Erik encouraged, his monotone never failing him. With some hesitation, he offered to play the organ upstairs in the church for Christine, who enthusiastically followed him.

He sat down, beginning to play Toccata and Fugue on the church's grand organ that echoed through the silent room. Christine watched in wonder for a while, but the song was so long and she eventually found herself drifting off to sleep, falling onto her angel's shoulder. He hadn't even noticed she was laying against him, fast asleep, until he had finished the page.

About forty-five minutes later, Christine awoke at the sound of her mother calling to tell her that she was outside. She quickly said goodbye to Erik and hurried down the stairs of the church to meet her mother in the parking lot. Christine remembered- with a pang of annoyance- that it was a school night.

* * *

_Thanks for reading everybody! I absolutely love all of the reviews I'm getting, a big thank you to all of my amazing reviewers! Just as a note, someone mentioned that Eponine had more siblings then just Gavroche, but I've decided that I'm going to go strictly by the musical rules for both stories just to make it simple. I actually love both books (I'm a huge Victor Hugo fan), but it just makes things easier for me. So, it's just Eponine and Gavroche, because Azelma and the two younger brothers aren't mentioned in the musical. Also, people also complained about Phantom being included in this, but I love both musicals so I'm writing about all the characters. I mean, if you really hate Phantom, you could just skip those chapters..._

_Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope I didn't mess up Christine and Erik too much. They're both pretty hard to write and I had to change around their stories a bit (and I brought Christine's mother back to life to make things simpler, sorry). So don't be afraid to call me out if one of the characters are terribly OCC!_


	4. Chapter 4

Raoul had spent his night after his first day of school not where he wanted to be. He wanted to pick his best friend, Christine, up from her choir practice, and instead had spent the night at school, for the first football meeting of the year.

He wasn't actually that great of a football star, but he was a good kicker and was actually one of their best players because of his outstanding kicking ability. It wasn't something he would ever want to have a career in, but it was a good sport to have under his belt. Pre-season was rough, but it would be worth it once he got out of Alfred and into a good school.

Christine had waited an hour before someone could pick her up Tuesday night and Raoul naturally felt guilty, so he promised to hang out with her the next night. He didn't have football practice, and she wasn't busy with too much homework, so by five-thirty on Wednesday, they both were hanging out at his house.

Raoul and Christine Daae had been best friends since they were about five. They met in school and had been friends ever since. So, Raoul had harbored a crush on her for about twelve years.

Actually, that was a bit of an overstatement. He honestly didn't really have feelings for her during Christine's (well actually, both of their) awkward, middle school years. His early years of high school he also dated other girls, and in second grade he was convinced she had cooties. But now he was seventeen-years-old, a senior, and had suddenly realized Christine was the perfect- and only- girl for him, she always had been.

They were laughing at something Raoul said that unintentionally very funny, and Christine's phone rang. She was going to ignore it, but decided to make sure everything was okay.

"Who was it?" Raoul asked, curious, and then realized it was none of his business.

"Oh, just Meg and Cosette, they wanted to see if I wanted to get pizza with them, but I'm going to say no," Christine responded simply. Meg was Christine's other old friend from the third grade, but he had actually never heard of Cosette before.

"Why say no?"

"Because I'm hanging out with you," Christine protested, "I don't think you'd want to hang out with three girls."

Raoul shrugged, he honestly didn't care. Usually, any friend of Christine's was a good girl, and Meg was always nice to him. "I want to go, we can just meet them. As long as your friends don't mind..."

"Oh, they won't care!" she said quickly, texting her friends back.

Not much longer, they arrived at the pizza place, Mr. D's, and immediately saw Meg and her fiend sitting in the same side of a booth, both with birch beers.

As Raoul and Christine sat, both girls quickly introduced him to Cosette Valjean, a small blonde girl with very big, blue eyes. "Hello," he said, watching Cosette inwardly try to figure out if Raoul was Christine's boyfriend. Ultimately, she simply didn't say anything about them at all.

They talked for a while about mundane, ordinary things, Raoul eventually figured out Cosettte was new to town. She seemed nice and was good friends with Marius Pontmercy, someone Raoul knew well from his friends Enjolras and Will Combeferre.

Christine and Cosette satisfied themselves by ordering a small cheese pizza, while Meg and Raoul decided to be more adventurous with a pineapple topping. As they waited for food, the conversation grew more and more about Marius (who was Cosette's apparent crush)- he was beginning to lose interest.

"That was Marius!" Meg shrieked, motioning towards the cell phone that Cosette had tried to discreetly check.

"No..." she said sheepishly, looking down at the text. Christine giggled, her cute snickering brought Raoul back to earth.

"Invite him, see what he says!" Christine proposed.

"Here?" Cosette questioned, looking unsure.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd love to come," Meg said, playfully shoving her friend's arm, who in turn was quickly becoming a crimson red shade. "I don't know him, but I'm sure he's nice."

"You're friendly with Marius, aren't you?" Christine asked him, Raoul nodded.

"Yeah, Marius is nice."

With some encouragement from her friends, Cosette took out her phone and sent a text to Marius.

Less than five minutes later, he arrived at the restaurant, eagerly looking for Cosette. Her face, still slightly, pink, lit up at the sight of him and quickly waved him to their table. Marius joined them, pulling up a chair to the booth between Cosette and Raoul.

Raoul had never seen Marius be so enthusiastic to talk before. It wasn't that he was quiet, it was just he was especially friendly that night. However, with both boys around, the conversation stayed away from cute boys and petty gossip. So, Raoul was thankful for that. All in all, it was actually pretty fun.

Marius offered to give Cosette and Meg a ride home, as the two girls had walked from the Giry house and it was starting to get dark out. However, Raoul drove Christine home in his own car, they lived fairly close, anyway. Unfortunately, that left him and him alone to his best friend's fawning.

"They're so cute! They're so cute! They're so cute!" she squealed, drawing out each 'so' more and more. Raoul laughed at her eagerness. "Oh, don't laugh! It's completely true!" He rolled his eyes, still laughing at her joy over Marius and Cosette.

"Alright, alright, they're cute," he said in surrender.

"You're just not a Romantic, Raoul."

And while Raoul drove and they fought on and on about how he was and wasn't sensitive, he finally drove into her apartment complex's driveway. He sighed, lingering in the driveway, watching Christine get out of the car and go home.

He wanted to help her so badly. She and her mother were all alone and poor. Christine never would accept money when they went out to dinner or to go see a movie. Raoul always was kind to her and especially her mother, he was one of the few people who knew how much trouble they really were in financially.

Raoul sighed, watching the last trace of his friend's long, brunette hair vanish into the building. Why didn't she ever realize his feelings for her?

A bit saddened now, he returned to his own, fairly sized house, that really was too big for four- now three (his brother, Phillip, was in college now)- people. Raoul's father was the chief of police and made a nice income. However, it was his mother who came from a long line of wealthy families. Most of the money they had was inherited.

His father had left his papers sitting around, they were mostly his scrawled and messy notes, but to amuse himself, Raoul decided to read them. There was a list of unclosed cases, things that had never been resolved.

To his shock, the list contained a familiar name; Jean Valjean. He read further, suddenly becoming very interested.

_Murder of three in Concord, Massachusettes. Possible suspects; Joseph Michaelsson, Jean Valjean, a man seen leaving crime scene in a hat and cape._

Raoul tried to shrug it off, there was a list of unclosed cases a mile long. However, the last name Valjean stuck out at him. It was Cosette's last name.

It couldn't be someone related to her. She was so... innocent. Still, Valjean wasn't a common last name. Valjean, the name repeated itself over and over in his mind. It was starting to annoy Raoul. No friend of Christine's would ever be related to a killer. And besides, it was only a possible suspect with the name Valjean, he could have been totally innocent.

Trying to get sleep that night, Raoul thought of getting pizza with his friends, how great his summer had been and how his senior year would (hopefully) go smoothly.

_Thank you for reading everybody! Please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

As Marius and Cosette grew closer, Marius and Eponine grew farther and farther apart. It's not that they had suddenly stopped being best friends, they just... well, it was hard to explain. Enjolras noticed it in the course of their first full week of school. It was like Eponine was jealous of Cosette Valjean. Whatever her attitude towards Marius and his new crush were, Enjolras had to pity his poor friend.

So, he took it to himself to become Eponine's new best friend- or at least until Marius and Cosette broke up or Eponine decided to grow up a bit and let them be together. It wasn't that they weren't good friends before, but it was Enjolras who had started to give her rides home from school and sometimes go get ice cream after. If he had football practice, she would obediently wait for him in the library until it was over.

It was sort of a win-win. Marius had started giving Cosette rides home, even when he had football practice, she conveniently had some sort of after-school activity that ended around the same time. Enjolras, unlike Eponine, was happy for the couple and hopefully his best friend would get the courage to ask her out. He figured car rides home alone would help speed things up without him and Eponine hanging around.

The next Tuesday, officially marking a week of being in school, Enjolras decided to drive through McDonald's on the way home, he didn't have practice and definitely deserved a coke. Eponine was in an okay mood, but she hadn't been her usual, sarcastic-but-caring self since the school year began.

They had been silent in the car, mostly, and he didn't really mind. Enjolras tilted his head to check on Eponine. It really wasn't like her to be quiet.

"Ponine... are you crying?" Enjolras questioned, his voice concerned, as he noticed a few small tears trickling down her face.

"J-just keep driving," she stuttered out, a flash of anger in her voice.

Of course he was concerned, but Enjolras wanted to just go home. He wasn't good with handling people that were emotional- particularly, crying girls.

"No, I have to stop," he said, trying his best to make his voice sound sensitive. Hastily, Enjolras pulled into the McDonald's parking lot and turned to face her.

"What is it?" he asked, her no response. "Come on, Eponine, you can tell me anything."

"No I can't! You would laugh at me if I told you!" she sobbed, while Enjolras awkwardly rubbed her back.

Honestly, it was weird to watch Eponine Thenardier cry. She just wasn't a crier, she was strong. Eponine never showed her emotions. Despite the fact she was friends with two teenage boys that easily dwarfed her, she was the rock of their friendship.

If something was making her cry, the world was either ending or something was terribly, indescribably wrong. Enjolras never could have guessed she would feel so strongly for their best friend.

"Is this about Marius?" he questioned as gently as he could. Eponine looked up from her crying.

"Is it that obvious?" she said, her voice cracking.

"Actually, no. Not really, not until recently. I never would have figured it out if he hadn't started liking Cosette, I can tell you're jealous. You're losing him," he told her, trying to sound as caring as he could. She still cried. He sighed, this wasn't working.

"He wasn't mine to lose!" she countered, "Why would I even think there was ever a chance for us... Whatever. I was too afraid to talk about my feelings, and now he's gone."

"Oh, Ponine..." Enjolras said, letting her sad story dissolve, wishing her awful life would go away. She didn't deserve her parents, her house that was falling apart or being ignored by Marius. "I wish there was something I could do to help you. Maybe one day, when Cosette's a thing in the past..."

"He will _never_ feel this way!" she sobbed, her voice failing her.

His heart was actually breaking. Enjolras could feel the pain in his chest. Eponine was falling to pieces in his own, worn-down car. Over Marius?

"Eponine, you're... Eponine! What are you doing?" he hadn't meant to say his thoughts aloud, but she looked up from her tears with confusion.

"Huh?"

"I just... Eponine, you can't act like this. My bravest friend is broken beyond compare because of a boy, that doesn't make sense. You're so strong, it's hurting me to have to see you like this," Enjolras surprised himself with his own words.

She let out what looked like a small smile. "I'm your bravest friend?"

"By far. There'll be other boys. I promise," Enjolras continued, his stomach going back to normal as she sat up straight.

"I just, don't make fun of me, Enjolras, but I thought he was going to save me," she lamented, leaning back in the seat and encouraging him to order to sodas they originally planned on ordering.

"From what?"

"My parents, my life. I thought we were going to go to the same college and we would live together and fall in love and he was going to punch my father somewhere down the road." Enjolras chuckled at the mental picture. Thenardier definitely deserved it. She smiled, thinking of the fantasy of her and Marius. "I imagine it all the time."

"Since when?" he asked, trying to guess when her crush had developed."Last year?"

"Fifth grade," she answered simply.

"Oh," was his reply. She nodded sadly. Enjolras could feel nothing but pity, his friend was in a terrible situation.

They talked as they drank their sodas, he tried desperately to keep her mind off of things. It was clear that Eponine was still far from anywhere near okay, but she was keeping up an indifferent face for his sake. Eventually, he drove her home and Enjolras wanted nothing more to help her as she walked back to her ugly house, waving goodbye.

He sighed, and he had a good two hour's worth of homework that night. Could his day get any worse?

It was hard for Enjolras to process; Marius and Eponine? They would never be a couple. That was one thing he was nearly positive of. If in all the years he had known them never had seriously considered them being together, there was no compatibility.

Poor Eponine.

When he arrived home, a voice greeted him, but it turned out not to be his parents. It was actually his best friend- or at least one of them- Matt Grantaire, a high school graduate who never really found his way to college and instead found his way to alcohol.

He had been a model student during his high school years and met a freshmen Enjolras when he was a sophomore. They were both members of every club possible and had their names on the Distinguished Honors list of Mackintosh High School.

In fact, when Enjolras met Grantaire, the older boy had become somewhat of an idol to him. He even started calling himself Enjolras instead of Ricky, because everyone called Grantaire Grantaire, and not Matt.

It was during junior year (Grantaire's senior year) when Enjolras's idol quickly fell down a dark path of girls, beer and partying. His grades suffered and he was rejected from every school he applied to. Grantaire had lost most of his preppy, role model friends in exchange of people who probably did drugs. Enjolras was the only one who stood by him.

The roles then had since reversed. It was Grantaire who had started to look up to Enjolras, perhaps in memory of his triumphant high school days. Maybe he missed his old life, maybe he didn't at all. Whatever his feelings were, Grantaire still managed to offer Enjolras some of his beer after all of the misery he had gone through his senior year.

Enjolras sat down at his table, staring at the drink his friend held. "I think I'll pass."

Grantaire shrugged, putting his dirty boots on the kitchen table and leaning back on his chair. Inwardly, it made Enjolras cringe, but he didn't nag his friend about it.

"How'd you get into my house? My parents aren't home."

'It's really obvious you keep a spare key under the mat," was the simple answer.

Enjolras managed to suppress his tiredness with Grantaire. He missed his best friend, how could one person change so drastically in the course of a year?

Still, it was nice to talk to someone not dramatically crying and Enjolras enjoyed the company. Eventually, he allowed Grantaire to convince him to drink some of the Captain Morgan he had brought as he explained Eponine's situation.

"You know, everyone laughs because I'm not that into relationships, but I think it can cause more bad than good, especially when you're in high school," Grantaire commented, with a sudden burst of philosophical thinking.

Enjolras had to admit, it was the first intelligent comment he had heard from his friend in months.

_So, I love Grantaire, in case you can't tell and I really hope I didn't miss him completely while I was writing. Thanks for reading! _


	6. Chapter 6

At first, Eponine was embarrassed because of how she broke down crying in front of Enjolras, one of her closest friends, but then she quickly got over it. If anything, it was nice to get the ancient secret off her chest and Enjolras was definitely the type to keep it a secret.

Since then, she had become completely dedicated to Enjolras and tried to make him her new Marius. He had tried to accept the role of Eponine's best friend, but she was so attached to him it was kind of annoying.

In fact, it was a Thursday afternoon when Eponine was doing homework in the library, waiting for football practice to be over. Enjolras approached her, waving as she finished her final paragraph of her English essay.

"Are you ready?" Eponine asked him, looking up at her friend standing near the table.

"Actually, I was going to go hang out with some friends... like, Marius, and everyone," Enjolras commented, a bit shyly. While he wanted to be friends with Eponine in her time of need, Marius was also one of his best friends, they were like brothers. He hadn't spent time with him in a while. "Do you want to come?" he offered, although he knew the answer would be no.

Eponine paused, as though she may have said yes, but shook her head. "No, I think I'll just walk home."

"Well, I can give you a ride home and then come back..."

"No," she stopped him, "You go ahead. You can't worry about me forever, Enjolras." Eponine told him, standing to give a hug. "Really, I'm thankful for everything you've been doing since Marius," she said, trying to force herself to smile.

Enjolras gave her a sad smile in response, knowing that she wasn't okay. Still, he decided to go with what she wanted and bade her goodbye. Alone again, Eponine decided to just go home, meditating on her thoughts.

Eponine had talked to Cosette Valjean since their fateful meeting the first day of school. She was a sweet girl, to Eponine's dismay, and was actually very nice. Cosette even invited her to hang out a few times, although it never actually happened.

The fact that Cosette was, well, the Cosette, was too coincidental. It couldn't have been true. It couldn't have been the Cosette.

The Cosette was a little girl from long ago. She was an orphan and nothing more than a servant to the Thenardier family, when the family still ran a motel in Augusta, Maine. Cosette preformed a series of impossible tasks for a toddler. Eponine's mother in particular was cruel to the girl, and Eponine followed in her mother's footsteps.

It was a snowy, Christmas Eve when a mysterious man came to the motel that night, his name lost to Eponine's memory. However, the next morning, he presented Cosette with a doll, her first Christmas present, and they were gone within the hour.

She remembered watching the little figure holding hands with the big, tall man. She didn't stop looking at them until they became nothing but specs in the distance. Eponine was seven, maybe eight, and it was heartbreaking. Why hadn't anyone come to save her?

Eponine spent the rest of her childhood waiting for her own hero to come in the form of a father-like man, but he never came. She waited for him all through her move to New Hampshire to a small town called Alfred, where her parents became teachers. He never came.

By fifth grade, her imaginary hero became Marius Pontmercy, a boy from a rich family. However, as good of a friend as he was, he coudn't save her from her parents or her life. At the age of fourteen, Eponine finally accepted no one was ever coming to save her.

Since then, she had always found a way to resent Cosette, the miserable child servant of the Thenardier's motel in Maine. But, was this the same Cosette? It couldn't have been. It would be just too random. How could have both girls found their way to the same town in New Hampshire? It was just too impossible.

Begrudgingly, Eponine entered her home again. Gavroche was trying to do focus on his homework, but as usual, was failing. She suspected her little brother had some kind of attention disorder that hadn't been addressed ever, and she tried to help him in any way she could.

"Hey, 'Ponine," he greeted happily.

"Hi," she responded, taking a seat next to him. She looked down at his homework, reading Shakespeare. Eponine was positive he would have trouble with that.

"Do you remember Cosette?" she asked, nervously.

"Cosette?" her brother repeated.

"Yeah, we sometimes called her the Lark, she worked at the motel..." Eponine tried to hint, noticing the look of recognition in his eyes.

"Oh, yeah! I forgot her name. I was really little when she left... where did she go, anyway?"

"I don't know, some man came and took her one day, then she was gone." Eponine shrugged, trying to look indifferent.

"Why ask?" Gavroche questioned her. She shrugged again, lying through her teeth.

"I... I guess I was just thinking about her because I thought of the motel. Hey, have you seen Mom?"

After being pointed in the right direction, Eponine decided to ask her mother. Mrs. Thenardier was a generally nasty, unattractive woman, but she did have some strange Maternal instinct for her only daughter.

"Mom?" she asked, approaching her mother as cautiously as possible. At the sight of her daughter, her usual ugly, scowl turned just a slight bit softer.

"What is it?" she sounded both annoyed and interested, it was sort of fascinating.

"Do you remember Cosette?"

"Cosette?" Mrs. Thenardier asked, as though she didn't remember the girl.

"She was the girl who used to work..." Eponine tried to explain, which only made her mother more angry.

"I remember the girl! Why would you think of her, of all people?" She probably should have dropped the conversation, but Eponine just had to know more.

"I was just wondering, do you remember why she left?" Her mother shook her head.

"No, some weird man came and took her to do God knows what. At least she's out of our hair," she commented simply, causing Eponine to be shocked. How could her mother speak so casually about a girl they abused for years?

She bit her tongue, quietly thanked her mother for the information, and left to do math homework. However, before she could even think about starting she had to call someone. No answer. Well, at least she could leave a message.

"Hey, Marius it's just Eponine, we should hang out tomorrow, I haven't really heard from you. Bye."

_Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter is so short, but I'm updating soon because I am home for two weeks. Happy holidays! _


	7. Chapter 7

Meg was in a good mood that Friday, mostly because it was Friday. She had made plans to hang out with Christine and Cosette after school which sounded good, especially since she wouldn't have to see her mother.

It was terrible- it was awful even in her head- but she didn't want to see her mother that day. Mrs. Giry, the head of Alfred's dancing studio, was a seasoned professional. Any dancer wanting to start a career in the area-, really in the Northeast, wanted a lesson from her. In her earlier years, she was a Rockette and even in a few Broadway shows, most notably "A Chorus Line." Meg had seen the pictures, her mother was once slim, beautiful and smiley.

Meg's mom was still in good shape and was pretty in her own way, but was not much of a smiler anymore. She had her moments, but was certainly the opposite of Meg. There was no room for humor or too much laughter in her life, it was all strict dance training.

In a way, she was extremely grateful for her mother, her strictness and devotion to dance helped Meg become a great dancer. She had started lessons when she was two years old and honestly loved it. There was nothing she wanted to do more. On the other hand, though, there were no breaks. Everyday was a day for dance, Meg practiced all the time. Even when she was sick, Meg was still expected to put in at least twenty minutes of practice. Their house had an entire room set up like a real dance studio and it was suppose to be put to good use.

Now, Meg was applying for early admission at the Tisch School of Dance, one of the best in the country. It was actually her (and Mrs. Giry's) dream school, both hearts would be broken if Meg was rejected. To avoid that, she was forced into more practicing than usual. Meg had devoted nearly fourteen hours of her last weekend putting together an audition routine. She wanted it, but her mother wanted it even more.

Meg deserved one day off from it, in her opinion. Besides, if she didn't get back until later, she could still put in an hour or two afterwords if she was awake enough. So, by the time the last bell of the school day rang, she was overjoyed to leave. Her last class of the day was History, which was with Cosette anyway, and they quickly left class to go find Christine.

Both she and Christine were sort of surprised how well Cosette had fit into their friendship. In a matter of days, their best friend pair was slowly turning into a trio. It was awkward at first to hang out with Cosette so much, but she was almost like a smaller version of Christine. However, she did have a secret, sarcastic and witty side that only rarely came out, which Meg appreciated.

And how could they not take her under their wing? Even though they were the same age, Meg looked at Cosette as some kind of younger sister, almost. Maybe it was because she was new to town, or because she was so innocent, but Meg and Christine had both watched over her in an almost protective way.

They had found Christine waiting where she said she would be, outside by where the buses were lined up to take other students home. Luckily, Christine had her own car, which was in the back of the school's crowded parking lot.

The three girls drove back to Cosette's house. Christine never wanted anyone at her house and Meg, of course, couldn't bare to be with her mother for the night. Cosette explained to them a few days ago that her mother had died and Jean Valjean was her adoptive father. The story seemed complicated and sad, so neither of them decided to press her on it.

Cosette's father seemed like a friendly, but aging man. Meg thought it was very odd that her friend just lived with an old man not related to her at all, but Cosette didn't seem like the kind of girl going through any kind of abuse by him, and he certainly did not appear to be like that kind of man. In fact, he welcomed the two girls and teasingly scolded his daughter for not bringing them to their home sooner.

They were definitely wealthy, the Valjean's lived in one of the nicest neighborhoods in town, if not the nicest. Cosette's own room was a cozy, purple color that had not fully been moved into yet. Quickly, she apologized for the boxes lying everywhere and an unmade bed.

The three girls talked for a little while- mostly about Marius Pontmercy, but about other things, too. Cosette, Meg noticed, finally had gained the courage to ask about Raoul Chagny, and what was going on between him and Christine.

"Oh, Raoul? No... I- Just, no. I've known him since we were in... gosh, Kindergarten, I think."

"Awww, that's cute," she commented, a bit embarrassed that she'd asked about it, "I still think it would be cute."

"It won't. He doesn't like me like that," she continued, trying to dispel the idea from Cosette's head for good.

"Hey, we should go to the game tonight. You know, to go see Raoul and Marius," Meg suggested, half because she wanted to ago and half because it would keep her out later. Both of her friends agreed. A few hours later and a trip to Subway's, they were sitting in the bleachers of their school for the second game of the season.

It actually wasn't that cold, so no one minded sitting and socializing at night. The air was pretty pacified, the home team was losing by a lot. They had lost the first game of the season and everyone was hoping for a better outcome that Friday night. Meg tried to look for some of her friends she knew on the field, but she had no idea who was who. All in all, the football games could be sort of boring, especially when the home team was losing.

To everyone's surprise, the team pulled through by the very end, resulting in a win by 42 points. To no one's surprise, there was going to be a victory party at Jamie Gardel's house.

Jamie was a girl Meg had known for a long time with parents that were rarely home and a big house. Parties were almost always thrown there, and they were usually the best parties of the year. Not going would be stupid, because it was almost a guaranteed good time. Since Meg was pretty friendly with Jamie, they felt it would be a good idea to go. It was going to be Cosette's first Mackintosh party, anyway.

By the time they arrived, Jamie's party was already in full swing. Most juniors and seniors were there and Meg couldn't help but feel gratefully she was with two of her friends. Quickly, Raoul had managed to find Christine and quickly walked over to them.

"Hey, congratulations!" Christine said to him, giving him a half hug and trying to sound as excited as she could. Everyone knew she couldn't care less about football. He thanked her and led the three girls over to a couch.

"You'll never guess what happened to me before I came here."

"What?"

"Some recruiter came to talk to me from Yale." No one could really tell how he felt about that, he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. Nevertheless, Meg and Cosette smiled in a chorus of praise.

"So you're going to Yale now?" Christine asked, a bit suspicious about the whole thing. She knew football wasn't really his passion.

"Ummm... I don't know. It's not really my thing, I couldn't do college football," Raoul admitted.

"I don't know, you were doing pretty well out there," Meg encouraged him. She wasn't really sure if he did well, but she had heard plenty of rumors that Raoul Chagny was Mackintosh's best player.

"Whatever."

Christine could tell he was torn by the situation and was very thankful Marius and another one of Raoul's friends sat down beside him. That would have to be another conversation between them for another day.

"Hi Cosette!" Marius greeted, waving stupidly. About two seconds later, he realized that he sounded like an overexcited second grader and turned a shade of pink. "Uh... hey, Christine. Hey, Meg," he said sheepishly, looking at the two girls.

"Nice one," his friend, Meg remembered him to be Enjorlas, commented not-so-subtly. Both Cosette and Marius blushed.

"You guys were awesome out there!" Cosette said happily, trying to act as if the redness on her cheeks was something natural. Eventually, the conversation turned to other things and they had ended up talking for a while.

Meg couldn't help but notice Raoul. She had known him for years now, but something about him and Christine had changed. His voice grew sort of shaky and nervous when he was talking directly to her. Christine was just herself when talking to him, but maybe Cosette was actually on to something. Maybe Raoul actually did have a crush on her best friend.

Jamie came around to their group, looking very drunk, and happily offered the group some beer. To no surprise, Christine refused the alcohol. She was one of those people who wouldn't even drink soda in fear of harming her singing voice. Raoul took a can for himself, and impressively had no problem stomaching the drink. Cosette took one sip of her own beer and quickly gave it to Marius, who was rushing to finish his own drink in order to take hers.

"You're not going to take one?" Meg asked Enjolras, the boy she knew least of them. He shook his head.

"I have this friend, and he drinks too much... I just would rather not. Are you?" Meg thought about his question.

"I really shouldn't..." she told him, glancing at the drinks left out on the table.

"Good for you," he encouraged.

"Eh, you know what? I'm going to, just one. Believe me, I deserve it."

With some sadness, Enjolras watched Meg drink a can of beer which quickly turned into another can and an added shot of vodka.

By the time Christine had driven both girls home, Meg was the one who had discovered she was a light drinker when it came to alcohol. Her head was throbbing and her throat burned, it seemed like her world was spinning as she got out of her friend's car.

"Marguerite Giry!" her mother's piercing tone just made her head ache worse, "Where have you been?" Her eyes barely open, she looked at the clock; 12:06 AM.

Instead of an answer, Meg replied by throwing up on the kitchen floor. She was afraid to look up at her mother, and could feel herself shaking in fear.

"Go to your room," Mrs. Giry wasn't even yelling, she just was talking an icy, terrifying tone. "Now."

There was no hesitation for Meg to run straight to her room. Lying down on a bed felt good, but nothing else about her felt good. Meg heard a beep and reluctantly picked up her phone. It was a text from Enjolras. She vaguely remembered hanging out with him a lot that night.

_How do u feel?_ The text read and touched, Meg responded back.

_Now I know why you don't drink_

_ Thank you for reading! Jamie isn't a completely random character, I promise, she's based on one of the girls in the Ballet Corps in Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera named Jammes. Please review!_


	8. Chapter 8

There- almost done. All he had left was her hair, which was easy. Christine's hair was wavy, chocolate brown and beautiful. Erik smiled at the opportunity to paint it, again. Content with his newest piece of art, he observed the complete picture of Christine Daae. Just a picture of her could make him feel good. However, his expression turned sour. Erik was getting sick of painting, even if the pictures were of Christine.

He forgot which philosopher said it, probably many of them, but someone did say that in life, you are either suffering or you live in boredom. Erik had to agree, because after a life time of suffering, he had finally reached the point of boredom.

Erik had made his home in the old church of Alfred, New Hampshire. He couldn't have picked a more uneventful town, but it was perhaps best for him to live without excitement in his life for a while. In his church, he had mastered everything he could have thought of; painting, pottery, five languages (German, Italian, French, Russian and Mandarin Chinese), ventriloquy, illusions and architecture.

The only things that entertained him anymore was music; composing it, playing it, hearing it, _teaching it._ Teaching music was his favorite thing to do. The thought of it made made him smile, a small smile, but it was definitely one of his rare smiles.

He looked at the small clock in his dark room. Seven thirty, AM. Erik hadn't even realized that he had spent the night on his latest drawing.

Oh well, at least he had time to see church. Before he had met Christine, he had hated church services. The minister that spoke was undeniably boring and the organ of the church echoed loudly down into his own home. However, Christine sang in the choir and was faithfully there to appear at both the eight o'clock service and the eleven o'clock.

In fact, he could hear the choir rehearsing then and thought the male voices were sounding particularly dull that morning. Erik had to admit they still sounded pretty good. He decided to climb up to the top of his intricate home, two floors up with a full view of the church. Erik watched as the choir dispersed from their loft in the balcony. Only Ginger, the woman in charge of the music program, remained.

A man walked up to her, Erik recognized him as the minister of the church, Jeffery Martin. He never thought much of Minister Martin, besides the fact he wasn't a good public speaker.

The man through up his hands, clearly frustrated. Erik continued watching the two. "Ginger, what will we do?"

"Nothing, there's nothing to worry about." The choirmaster was obviously annoyed with the man, and Erik had to wonder what they were even talking about. With a nervous pang in his chest, he had to worry they had discovered him.

No, there was absolutely no way they could have any idea about him. It wasn't possible.

Erik, putting his angst away, decided to enjoy his morning and was sure to pay attention to the choir's singing. After her first performance, he watched as Christine journeyed back into the church, near the organ. She had nothing to do now for an hour until the next service, and Erik's heart pounded a bit at the thought of Christine coming to visit him.

"Angel," she called softly. He waited. "Angel?" she called again, but this time he answered.

"I'm here," he said, still not revealing himself, "Come through the door."

The door, of course, was one of his many trapdoors he had installed in the centuries old church. Obediently, Christine checked to make sure no one was around and snuck through the door.

Erik had taken the liberty to steal some of the church's candles, as to make his home a little less dark whenever his student came down. However, instead of wanting to sing, Christine went into great detail of her Friday night.

"Who went with you?" Erik drilled her, becoming extremely curious.

"Meg and Cosette, she's new to school," Christine explained, "But we met up with Raoul and two of his friends there." His heart twisted at her words, terribly scared that she and her two friends were dating the three boys she had mentioned.

Erik did not like Raoul Chagny. Christine spoke of him often, they were best friends. He had observed Raoul from a distance a few times, and he just gave off bad feelings. He seemed cocky and ignorant. However, he didn't dare let his expression change at the name Raoul.

"And Meg just got so wasted. Oh my God, it was awful. She's so skinny anyway and alcohol just doesn't cooperate with her, I guess," Christine continued, her face in her hands, shuddering at the thought. "Her mother's furious, of course, Mrs. Giry's so strict. She's not letting Meg leave the house for a month."

"Did you drink?" he questioned her, letting his facade escape him to show his very concerned side.

"No, I would never," she said, shaking her head quickly, "I know what that does to your singing voice. I don't think I'll ever drink."

"It's not that, Christine. You could get sick and it's just bad to get drunk. Promise me you'll never drink too much and not until you're old enough," he told her, his voice coming off a lot more stern and harsh than he had attended. Erik inwardly sighed. Instead of showing Christine how much he cared about her, he just sounded like he was yelling at her.

"I promise," she said seriously, and Erik couldn't tell if she was touched or terrified by his proclamation.

Racking his brain for something she may have said earlier, Erik began to inquire about how school was going and they managed to keep a conversation for the rest of her hour break. He couldn't help but worry about her, what if something happened to Christine at one of those high school parties?

Reluctantly, Erik showed her back to the main floor of the church, where she returned to sing for the next service. Once she was gone, he sighed longingly and returned to watch the next service, mostly to see the choir.

The next morning, he had actually gotten a few good hours worth of sleep, which surprised him. By the afternoon, he hadn't done much by his standards, only composed a bit and read one of his books. It was listening in on that Minister Martin which made his day interesting, and it was not a good type of interesting.

Erik had caught him talking alone in a room with Ginger, the music director, in an urgent and hushed voice.

"Jeffery, you don't have to worry," the older woman said. Erik almost noticed a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I know you think I'm crazy... but I think there is a ghost." His heart nearly stopped. Erik wanted to throw up. How could anyone have found out? His thoughts were racing and forced himself to listen further.

"Well, if there is a ghost, how could it bother us?"

"It's not that kind of ghost. It's some kind of... I don't know, yet. But there's some kind of unwelcome... something! There's some kind of unwelcome thing in this church, I know it! I hear it!"

Ginger still did not look convinced, for which Erik was grateful. If he was lucky enough, people would pass off the minister as a lunatic. No one even knew of his existence in that town except Christine.

They discussed it more, but there talking was mostly composed of the minister assuring her that Erik was real and her denying it.

Just to agitate the man even more, Erik decided to write him a letter.

_Dear Mr. Martin,_

_ It has come to my attention that you are telling others of my residency in your church. Respectfully, I ask that you stop this because I'm at the moment very satisfied living here. I think if you obey this note and any that come from me in the future, we may be able to get along._

_Sincerely, _

_Your Ghost_


	9. Chapter 9

Christine's life had become a lot less fun without Meg around. Ever since the two girls and Cosette had gone to Jamie's big football party a week ago (and her best friend got in huge trouble for drinking), Meg was not allowed to stay a minute away from her mother past 2:45.

She missed her friend a lot. It wasn't the same just hanging out with Cosette, because both girls were honestly sort of boring. Meg Giry was as lively and funny as Mrs. Giry was strict and dedicated. Meanwhile, Christine's best friend wasn't even as fun in school, because when she was home her mother was pressuring her into dancing even more. Meg was exhausted.

Combined with losing Meg and her terrible math class, Christine was miserable at school. The thought of Algebra II made her inwardly groan. She had it first that morning.

Christine was never good at math. She actually considered herself fairly bright in most subjects and had made her way through freshmen and sophomore years with all A's, sometimes a B+ in science and a B or B- in math.

Then came Algebra II as a junior. She was bad at regular Algebra her freshman year, but last year she had completely bombed the subject and was forced to repeat it again for senior year. This time, her teacher was the infamous Mr. Thenardier who successfully ignored all of his pupils, barely taught and yet gave out extremely difficult tests. He also thought that was very funny, but Christine definitely didn't.

That morning her first big test of the year came back. She had sort of prepared herself for disappointment once she remembered, but Christine was not really expecting to see a -42 at the top of her sheet. A 58% on the biggest test for the quarter. She wanted to slam her head into her desk.

For the rest of the class, she couldn't even focus. How was she going to scrape by with her usual B- this time?

Biting back her pride and her fear, she approached Mr. Thenardier, possibly the world's worst math teacher, clutching the test in her hand. She took in the detail of his desk, papers everywhere and a water bottle full of a clear liquid she guessed was some kind of alcohol.

"Excuse me?" He turned around, looking at Christine as if he couldn't care less about her. Well, there was no turning back now.

"What?"

"I was wondering if there was some kind of way I could retake this test."

Mr. Thenardier observed the paper and shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, come in during a free period and retake the quiz in a week from now."

"Really?" Christine asked, her eyes filling with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, get a tutor and come back," Thenardier said simply.

With relief, Christine happily went through the rest of her day. Of course, her pride still hurt, but at least her math grade wouldn't have to suffer. The fact that her new tutor was an entire year younger than her and aced the course her sophomore year embarrassed Christine, but she realized she was just going to have to suck it up.

After closer reading of her tutor, she realized that the junior girl was her teacher's daughter, Eponine Thenardier. It really made her wonder how such a mean and dumb man could produce someone smart and willing to help others. Christine sat waiting in the empty classroom she was assigned to until a tall, skinny girl walked in looking hurried.

"Sorry I'm late!" she exclaimed and quickly took a seat beside Christine. "My name is Eponine."

She nodded at her new tutor and smiled, trying to make the best of the awful situation. "I'm Christine." Eponine looked at the papers she had brought, giving her new student a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, scatter plots are the worst," she said, Christine laughed politely. "Do you have my dad?" she nodded and Eponine made a face.

"He's the worst. I can't imagine having him as a teacher," Eponine told her. Christine was a little surprised with her words, but shyly nodded in agreement.

Her new tutor did not waste time and quickly went to work. In a matter of twenty minutes, things in the world of Algebra II was finally starting to make sense. Christine instantly started to like Eponine.

"So I was thinking we could meet again maybe twice before you retake the test?" Eponine suggested and Christine nodded again, thinking that would be good.

"Do you have a ride home?" she asked Eponine, knowing her mother would be coming to pick her up.

"Well, my friend usually drives me home but he has football practice and I'm sort of tired. I think I'll walk home."

"No, don't! It's cold out. My mother can drive you home."

At first, the idea of getting a ride home and not having to see Marius or Enjolras (she was sort of mad at both of them) sounded perfect, but it would definitely be embarrassing to show Christine, who she barely knew, her awful and disgusting little house.

"It's okay, I think I'll wait..."

However, her protests did not hold up long and she soon found herself an old, small car with Christine and her mother, a kind woman with a thick accent (Eponine assumed it was something Scandinavian).

With a pang in her chest, she tried to keep up a happy and thankful front as Christine chattered on about how much Eponine was helping her.

Finally, she had directed Mrs. Daae to her home, but no one seemed to think much of her house, or at least no one said anything. Saying one last thank you and goodbye, Eponine left for home and reminded herself to get started on homework.

Christine and her mother talked a little while longer during the ride home. She explained how her math was suffering and how she needed a teacher. As much as people were impressed her parents came from Sweden, Christine didn't actually speak that much Swedish with her mother and was proficient at best.

With a full night ahead of her, she swung her backpack on her bed and opened up her backpack, determined to study math and finish her history essay. She just couldn't focus. Christine had been thinking about the Angel of Music more and more. He was so kind, he had done so much for her, but was he really sent from Heaven? Was it really her father that had sent him in the first place?

Taking out a set of matches, she had no choice but to light the scented candle by her father's picture. He was a small, adorable man with glasses and his violin. Her father loved his violin. He carried it with him everywhere, they buried him with it... Christine still remembered that day, as they lowered her father and his violin into the ground.

No, she couldn't cry. Not again.

Trying to focus on her math, she still couldn't sit still. Christine heard something. She definitely heard something. Completely abandoning her work, she listened further. It was a song she remembered very distantly, but she definitely remembered it.

It was on the violin. She was just thinking about her father and his violin! Christine continued to listen, letting the beautiful music dance throughout her room. She had never heard someone play so wonderfully before, not one person since her father had died...

She was recognizing the music, it was "the Resurrection of Lazarus." It was her father's favorite song. Christine began to cry a little bit. It wasn't even because she missed her father, it was because the music was so beautiful.

"Pappa?" she called, looking out from her window. Nothing. The music even stopped.

"Please, keep playing!" Still, silence.

She looked down, frustrated. Who was playing such beautiful music? It couldn't have been him... but it was. Sadly, Christine was forced to continue back to her homework, the spirit of Gustave Daae still tugging at her heart.


	10. Chapter 10

That Wednesday, Marius decided to call Enjolras and Eponine to have them hang out and do homework.

It was sort of a customary thing for the three of them to get together and do homework. Of course, that usually just meant they would laugh and ultimately get nothing done. However, Eponine was always good help when Marius was struggling in math.

He didn't know what had happened, but his best friend had been acting weird lately. She was always in such a good laugh, she would always be joking around with him. He had no idea what could have triggered it. Eponine just hadn't been the same as soon as school started.

Marius decided not to let his thoughts bother him, he and his friends were having a good time as they laughed about something stupid in the school's library. Somewhere in the corner, the librarian was giving them a dirty look.

The only one in their trio who actually had anything out was Eponine, she was lazily looking through her math notebook. Enjolras, in contrast, was lazily looking through his phone. His eyes enlarged with interest at the sight of a new text from a girl and Marius tried to crane his neck in order to see the message. However, he couldn't see it at all.

After a while of goofing off and finally getting kicked out by the librarian, the trio found themselves back in Marius' convertible, the rain falling on them because the roof of the car was stuck. Normally, Eponine would be miserable and complaining, but she couldn't help but laugh as it started to poor and the car (alongside their clothes) were being ruined.

"Just take me home, I'm tired," she instructed Marius.

"You're sick of us already?" Enjolras joked, nudging her from the front seat.

"Yeah, you're kind of getting old after six or so years."

Marius waited until she was inside to leave the driveway, baffled by her sudden aloofness. She was still Eponine, but she didn't tease as much. She just seemed sad about everything.

"Is she okay?" Marius wondered aloud, hoping that his best friend knew something he didn't.

"Yeah, she's just... I don't know, she's just Eponine. Girls are different from us."

Marius absentmindedly agreed with his friend's statement and also agreed to stay at Enjolras' house for a while. As usual, his parents were busy working and Marius could predict that their old friend Grantaire was probably already there.

To no surprise, Grantaire was already drinking down stairs in the basement, with plenty of their friends already invited. Enjolras, like he always was, became quickly annoyed with the sight. If his parents came home to find a bunch of high school boys hanging around their house, they would freak out.

It was a familiar picture to Marius. Raoul and Tom Feuilly were playing a fast paced round of ping-pong while Derek Bahorel was laughing about something ridiculous alongside Grantaire. The quiet ones of their group, Will Combeferre and Jason Prouvaire, were sitting on the basement couch, one reading and one writing.

"What're you writing?" Grantaire asked, snatching Jason's notebook from his hands and began to read aloud, Courfeyrac snickering over his shoulder.

"_She is like the warm sunrise on a summer day, the beautiful breeze and the daylight breaking,_" Grantaire read dramatically. Courfeyrac was laughing even more.

"You guys are so mean," Marius commented, "I appreciate your work, Prouvaire."

"That's because you like some girl of your own, Pontmercy," Courfeyrac said in his sing song voice.

"You do? Who, 'Ponine?"

"No, I don't like her. She's one of my best friends. That would be weird."

"Don't walk around it, what's her name?" Combeferre said, suddenly interested, he even abandoned his precious book.

"Not important," Marius muttered, embarrassed. He could even feel himself turning red.

"Come on, who is she, Prince Charming?" Grantaire asked eagerly.

"You don't know her, she's new this year."

"Oh! I think I know who you're talking about," Raoul said, joining the conversation. "It's Cosette Valjean, that new junior!"

Of course, Raoul was well aware that Cosette had her own crush on his friend through Meg and Christine, but decided to hold his tongue.

"Uh, yeah... That's her," Marius admitted, facing the onslaught of further jokes. Finally it seemed to stop.

"Are you guys friends?"

"Actually, I'm going to her house tonight to help clean out her room."

Feuilly grinned. "Yup, help her clean."

"I'm serious! She just moved here a few weeks ago!"

They all laughed again and Marius decided it was time to go there anyway. They all waved him goodbye and good luck, which just made him more embarrassed.

"Don't be a fool, wrap your tool!" were Courfeyrac's final parting words.

Marius found himself a bit intimidated at the Valjean's front door. He wondered what her parents must be like. Were they strict and cold? Or (hopefully) kind and welcoming? For one thing, they obviously were fairly well off.

Cosette greeted him at the door and quickly introduced him to not a set of parents, but one man who looked fairly old for someone who was supposed to be her father. Nevertheless, Marius made sure to be polite to him.

Her father seemed a bit restrained at being friendly and tried to intimidate him, but ultimately wasn't doing a great job. Eventually, Mr. Valjean wore off the strict facade and showed himself to be a kind man.

Cosette's new room still wasn't complete yet. It was large and painted a pretty shade of purple, she had two large, wooden book cases on either side of her room. There were books everywhere, it was almost like a library. Her room had a French theme to it, with some pictures of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower on the wall.

"My father gave me another book shelf for all the books on the floor. It's going to take forever to shelve them all. Are you sure you don't mind helping me?" Cosette asked him.

"Nothing else I would rather do," he assured her. She smiled.

Cosette had an entire system to her bookshelf. She organized it by size and genre. Encyclopedias on the very bottom, then other non-fiction, classic literature and then fiction. He didn't end up helping that much, she just kept on passing him books she had organized and then put them on the bookcase.

She was very particular about everything. Occasionally, he would mess up and embarrass himself. If it was anyone else, Marius would have gotten annoyed. But, since it was Cosette, he thought her exactness and desire for everything to be perfect was adorable.

They had gotten to talking, she explained her life story. It was everything awful- from a dead mother, to working like a slave and a father who abandoned her. Suddenly, Jean Valjean had appeared in Marius' mind as something like a saint.

It was interesting how the best people always had the worst lives. Marius was well-aware that Eponine didn't have a good home life. She was more like a mother to Gavroche then an older sister. At least Cosette had her adoptive father.

"This is all I have left from my mother," she told him, carefully holding a little, gold locket in the palm of her hand. With a certain amount of caring and respect, she let Marius hold it.

"What was her name?"

"Fantine."

"Then what does the 'E' stand for?" he asked, curious. The necklace had a big, capital E engraved in it. She smiled and looked down sheepishly.

"Nothing," she murmured. Marius laughed at her embarrassment.

"Tell me!" he demanded, but she continued to stay quiet, still blushing.

"My real name starts with that," she explained simply.

"What's your real name?"

"I'm not telling you! I don't like it!"

"What is it?" he asked again.

"Oh, gosh... My real name is Euphrasie. Oh, God, I hate it."

"Well, I like it," Marius informed her. Cosette's- or Euphrasie's- eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's cute. It's like you."

Cosette was silent for a moment, a big, silly grin on her face. "Thanks... You're cute, too."

They both sat in an awkward silence for a moment and at the same time leaned in to kiss each other.


	11. Chapter 11

The following Sunday, Raoul decided to wake up early to see Christine sing at her church. She had a small solo, a very small solo (about one line), but he still was curious to hear her sing in front of an audience.

Unsurprisingly, Christine carried herself like a seasoned professional. He met her that morning (Christine's mother usually came to the first service, Raoul had come to the second) and hugged her. She, of course, shrugged it off.

"Oh, come on, Raoul. It's nothing, really. Thanks for coming, though."

"No problem, I was curious to hear you sing in front of an audience." In all honesty, he had never truly heard his best friend sing a complete song. Christine was constantly the type who would sing small snippets of songs every day, but Raoul had never really heard her sing seriously.

He thought she sounded good.

"Do you want to go get breakfast or something down the street? To celebrate your great triumph?" he teased and Christine rolled her eyes.

"I just need to get my coat, wait one minute."

Raoul stood awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs as his friend quickly ran to the choir room. He didn't know any of the church people, he hardly ever went. A few people smiled at him as if he was a very cute puppy, probably thinking that he was Christine's boyfriend.

She returned quickly, and he quickly noticed a single rose clenched in her hand, a little note attached to it and Christine grinning to herself like a child with a chocolate chip cookie. Raoul felt a little pang of jealousy. Why didn't he think of anything to give her? He was so stupid!

"So I thought your solo was no big deal," Raoul commented smoothly, eyeing the flower.

"It really isn't. There's just this one F note and it's sort of hard to do, I was having trouble with it and I was nervous about it..."

"Who is that from? Is there some secret admirer I don't know about?" he joked with her, she laughed a bit. At the time, neither of them knew how true his words were.

"No..." Christine said, tripping on her words, "It's from Mr. Montano, he's a nice old man."

"Oh," was his only response, still a bit confused. Still treasuring her little rose, she followed Raoul to his car and they went out for pancakes.

He often felt like they were a couple. Raoul couldn't help but get that feeling, he opened doors for her, drove her around and ultimately spent a lot of his free time with Christine. It was hard to tell if she liked him back. Raoul imagined that she would tell him if she had a crush on someone, they were definitely that close. He sighed. At least Raoul could enjoy being her friend.

Christine, in her usual (but somehow adorable) fashion, had realized she left her phone at the church. Raoul waited for her in the parking lot as she dashed into the church, leaving her coat and gift behind.

The rose sitting beside him seemed to taunt him. Raoul just couldn't help but thinking Mr. Montano had not given her the flower at all, that Christine had some secret lover and she knew all about his crush on her. Raoul could just see Christine and some mysterious, handsome man laughing at him and his unrequited love.

He had to read that note.

Raoul untied the note from the flower with shaky fingers. If she returned and saw him reading her message, Christine would be furious. That was the last thing he wanted.

_Dear Christine,_

_ I know you do not think this one small solo is_ any_ sort of accomplishment, but I also know that you were still nervous. As expected, you were absolutely lovely and you make proud everyday. _

_Yours,_

_The Angel of Music_

What?

Thoughts racing, Raoul quickly tied the note back on and attempted the elegant bow it was in before. It looked good enough. She would never know he read it.

The Angel of Music. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, it sounded so familiar. The Angel of Music. It sounded to him like a lost friend. Then, it hit him.

Raoul was transported to the hot summer nights in Christine's attic, where Mr. Daae would read them stories of his homeland, Sweden. Christine, always the musician, loved the story of Little Lotte. He could barely remember the story, but it was about a sweet little girl who was protected by the Angel of Music.

A million theories swarmed through his head, but none of them were probably true. It was so strange. The Angel of Music seemed to him like a real person now, someone that loved Christine like her father did before his death. Raoul missed Mr. Daee and his violin, he was such a nice man...

Two voices met his ears, through the car window slightly rolled down. Raoul recognized the first person as the leader of the church (the priest He couldn't remember what they were called in Protestant churches.) and some other woman.

"I'm telling you, we have some kind of trespasser in the church. The ghost."

"I don't know..." the woman trailed off. The man seemed adamant.

"I know! Did you not read the note? It was signed by a ghost! There is someone in this church!"

"Well, I believe you," the woman assured him, "But people would think we're crazy."

"We have to tell someone, the police? They'll take care of it."

Raoul could barely focus on their words. This church was way too weird. And where was Christine?!

A couple of moments later, she returned and ran quickly to the car.

"I'm so sorry! I saw someone there and they just kept me talking forever."

"No big deal, it was only a few minutes."

Christine looked down to her seat, realized the flower was sitting in the car the entire time and hurriedly grabbed it. Raoul could tell that she was nervous he had actually read her note.

Suddenly, he began to feel bad about reading her letter. No matter who it was from, Raoul had no right to read into her private life. Almost instantly, he felt bad, wishing that he had never opened it.

With only small conversation, Christine went home and Raoul was left to his thoughts.

Whoever said life is stranger than fiction was absolutely right. All at once, Raoul Chagny felt jealous, betrayed and confused. Who was this angel? He just hoped that it wasn't some secret boyfriend. Christine would tell him. If there ever was someone, Raoul would be the first to know. Well, besides Meg Giry, maybe. What if she had already told Meg? What if she was going to tell Raoul that very morning, but decided not to.

He felt like his head was going to explode and the throbbing of his brain did not subside at all when his brother came through the door alongside his father.

They both were loud people, Raoul considered himself to be an honest introvert. He liked partying and having fun, but it eventually wore him out. To his surprise, Mr. Chagny was not his usual, cheery self and looked a bit angry.

"Everything all right, Dad?"

"Oh, that dumb minister from that church is convinced they have some unwelcome trespasser."

Raoul's father was the Chief of Police in town and therefore was met with almost every issue.

"Dad!" Raoul's brother Phillip exclaimed, a bit shocked with his put down of the man.

"Well, I have more important things to do," he huffed. Raoul didn't even think of it until he realized it was Christine's church.

"What do you mean, an unwelcome trespasser? Is that even possible in a church?" he asked, curious and trying not to show too much interest.

"They think someone is actually living in the basement of the church."

The words rocked him. Raoul wanted to fall out of his chair. He just heard the minister and some other woman talking about the same theory! Hopefully, Christine was well out of harm's way.

"Are you serious? How would that even be possible?" Raoul continued, not caring if he sounded too eager.

"I don't know. I think these people might just be imagining things," Mr. Chagny admitted.

"Maybe God has sent an angel to watch over them?" Phil joked, but it still unnerved Raoul. The Angel of Music, someone living in a church, maybe it somehow all connected...

"Or a ghost!" Phil teased again, bringing Raoul out of his thoughts. Shaking his head as if to reassure himself, he excused himself from Phillip and his father to finish up on homework.

However, as he was in his room, it was definitely not the history essay he was doing. He had to research the Angel of Music.

The little story was one Raoul very dimly remembered. It was one of the less common fairy tales he had heard only from Christine's father, probably Scandinavian but by no means famous. The story of Little Lotte and the voice that sang songs to her in her head came back to him as he read the online poem.

_Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing..._

Vaguely, Raoul remembered calling Christine Lotte, because she loved the story so much.

_But loved most of all, when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music._

As he read and his childhood memories flooded back to him, Raoul felt a little pang of mourning in his chest for Gustave Daae. He was such a good, kind man (despite being a bit odd) and Christine was absolutely heartbroken when he died. She wouldn't leave her a room for three days.

Raoul was not one to believe in ghosts, but perhaps the Angel of Music was Christine's father, somehow comforting her from beyond. Could that be possible? It was scary to think about.

He pondered the idea further. Quirky little Mr. Daee, if anyone were to come back to the grave, Raoul thought affectionately, it would be him...

* * *

Thank you for reading everybody! I'm sorry I haven't been as good at updating as I used to be, I'm still moving in and everything. Hopefully, I'll get in a chapter this weekend, but no promises. Also, is anyone else angry about all the 25th anniversary videos of Les Mis on Youtube being taken down for copyright? Literally, most of them are gone and I love the video of the Original London Cast singing with the 2010 Cast. :( Anyway I hope everyone loved the movie, at least (going to see it for the fourth time!)

Please review, it makes my day!


	12. Chapter 12

That Monday, Eponine was home earlier than usual, which was actually nice. She felt bad for her little brother, Gavroche, who would be stuck home alone with her parents on a regular day. Instead, she waited for him to get off the bus, as the town's middle school got out later than the high school.

"Hey, Gav," she greeted the seventh grader, who could definitely pass as an elementary school boy. He was short and very skinny, but in an adorable way. His clothes were old and tattered, Eponine knew he was teased a lot in school.

"Hi, 'Ponine!" he responded, just happy to see his big sister. He took a seat on the old couch next to her.

Eponine occasionally forgot just how much she loved Gavroche and felt guilty about leaving him alone in the house. He was so kind and considerate... and so sweet. Well that actually wasn't true, he did have a bad mouth to him, but that was mostly to his parents and they deserved it.

At the thought of her parents, Mrs. Thenardier waltzed in. She looked uncharacteristically happy, which could only mean they were having a party again. Both Eponine and Gavroche knew what that meant.

The Thenardier's owned the seedy motel next door to their house, usually inhabited by the scum of the next door city, New London. Most nights were a party there, but whenever Eponine and her brother were invited they were always made to pickpocket and steal, as if the usually drunk people had any kind of money.

Their inn was far from classy and usually took in the scum and drunkards of the large city next to Alfred, New London. Parties were far from fun in her opinion and reestablished her hatred for her parents.

Eponine sighed, she had _homework_.

Despite her weak protests, both siblings found themselves in the motel, watching as the New Londoners happily entered their motel, eager to party. Gavroche looked to his sister nervously.

"Try not to get involved in this, don't talk to anyone," Eponine told him. Why did her parents have to be such trash? Her brother didn't deserve to grow up around people like that.

"But I should still try and steal, shouldn't I?"

Eponine paused. "Yeah, but, but keep half for yourself, okay?" Gavroche gave his sister a dumbfounded look, they were never suppose to keep money for themselves.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, but don't tell Mom and Dad." Eponine commanded, Gavroche nodded obediently.

She sat and watched her brother weave in and out of the people, expertly reaching into pockets and pulling out money. Eponine knew she would be expected to do the same thing sooner or later that night, but she first had to make sure her brother would be alright.

"Hey, 'Ponine," a familiar voice said, yet still managed to make her jump.

"Enjolras?"

"Hey," he said yet again.

"Why did you come here?"

"Well, I was wondering where you were, I figured you would be here. I went to your house, too. And, plus, I wanted to be in the presence of intellectuals such as these." Eponine laughed at his obvious sarcasm, the people at the motel were far from intellectual, and that definitely included her parents. "Your brother's good at what he does," Enjolras continued, watching Gavroche navigate through the crowd.

That was what she loved about Enjolras. While Marius always had been weary of her inevitable life style. As much as he wouldn't like to admit it, Eponine's life always made him a little nervous. Enjolras didn't care. Enjolras excepted it.

"I'd rather he was good at reading or math," she complained, "Look at him, he's like the Artful Dodger."

"But he's clever, especially for a twelve-year-old."

Eponine only wanted the best for her brother. Gavroche deserved it, he was always made fun of at school and by their parents. She wished he could have been naturally good at school, like Enjolras was.

"I wish he was like you," Eponine admitted aloud, and quickly shut her mouth.

"Like me?"

"I... I didn't mean to say that out loud. But... I don't know, you're so smart and you have such a good life ahead of you... I don't."

"Oh, come on, Eponine, that's not true! You're one of the smartest girls I know. We're in the same math class because you took a Geometry course one summer. Don't say that, you have such a bright future ahead of you."

"You think so?" she asked him, uncertain.

"I know so." They smiled at each other, embracing in a much needed hug. Eponine hadn't felt as good as she did then in weeks.

"Eponine, if you're going to do that, get a room," her mother snapped, instantly causing her daughter to blush.

"Hate her," Eponine muttered. Enjolras nodded in agreement.

"No offense, but she's kind of gross."

"None taken."

The next day after school, Eponine decided not to wait up for a ride from Enjolras. Instead, she walked home and was on time to greet Gavroche as he got off the bus.

She had began to start on her homework when her old phone went off. It was Christine.

_Aced the retake thank u so much!_

Ever since Eponine had began to tutor Christine Daae in math, they had surprisingly become great friends. She could never see herself ever hanging out with someone a popular, good-looking senior like Christine, but she was surprisingly funny and down-to-earth.

In fact, they even had confided to each other. Christine missed her deceased father terribly, while Eponine hated her own. They seemed complete opposites, yet somehow very similar.

_Yay! Thats great. Wanna come to my house today? _

Not much later, Christine arrived at her house. They hung out for a while and for the first time Eponine noticed that her new friend was actually more than quirky. She flat out refused any food that was offered, insisting it was bad for her voice.

"Who said that?" she asked.

"My voice teacher."

"So what do you eat?"

"Oh, I'll eat anything, just not soda, dairy, carbs or anything spicy."

"Oh," was Eponine's simple response. Christine stayed a little while longer, but nothing else really happened. She pushed aside any of her opinions on Christine and they talked a little while about Meg Giry, her best friend. Unfortunately, that also lead to the topic of Marius, as he was Eponine's best friend.

"I know Marius, he's friends with Raoul. He's also dating my friend Cosette, you must know her."

Eponine managed to answer with a passive yes.

"She's so sweet, they're just the most adorable couple!" Christine gushed.

"Yeah, Cosette's so nice. I think Marius is really happy," Eponine commented, trying to sound as cheerful as she could.

They talked a little while longer, Eponine could hardly focus, still thinking in jealousy over Cosette. What did she have that Eponine didn't?

Everything.

They talked a little while and Christine excused herself to go home and get some homework. Eponine watched as her friend left and decided to try as hard as she could to forget Marius.

* * *

_Okay short chapter I know, but there's no time to update! I promise next week I will be a bit more hard-working. I hope you enjoyed!_


	13. Chapter 13

The future seemed so... present. Enjolras couldn't even focus anymore, all he could do was absentmindedly flip through his Princeton Student Handbook. He was suppose to be working on an essay for North Korea and that would usually interest him. But, this time it didn't.

Enjolras just couldn't focus on anything, he was nervous. Everything about the future scared him. He was suppose to be one of the lucky ones with early admission to one of the best schools in the country. But, what about after that?

He didn't have a passion, there wasn't a dream job. Enjolras always just studied and did well in all his classes. No subject ever interested him that much, or at least not like how Eponine loved math. There was nothing that would be able to interest him.

Since Enjolras was only taking six classes, he had two study halls as of that year, and seniors had the special right to go wherever they wanted. He, of course, had chosen to spend his time reading in the library. Surprisingly, he didn't have much homework. Deciding to get an early start on an English assignment, Enjolras begrudgingly put away his Voltaire.

He liked to read, was there a career in that? He could be a librarian.

Very quickly, he eliminated that job choice and took a seat.

"Hello, Meg," Enjolras said quickly and blankly. He hadn't thought of Meg Giry since that party weeks ago where she had gotten completely wasted.

"Oh, hi," she responded, just as vaguely staring at an email from someone. Quickly and eagerly, she typed a response, but Enjolras wasn't interested or rude enough to look over her shoulder and read it.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he commented, letting himself get distracted again.

"I got grounded right after the party..." she trailed off sheepishly, a little embarrassed to admit it.

"That sucks."

They talked a little bit longer, neither of them really had that much work to do anyway. Enjolras remembered liking Meg Giry and wished she was a senior so he could see her more. She almost reminded him of Eponine, same dry sense of humor.

Without anyone else around, Enjolras continued to spend his sixth period study hall with Meg and they quickly became good friends.

Besides making a new friend, Meg's entire life was looking in general. Her steep, one month grounding was nearly up and she had received the most exciting email of her life, an official registration to audition for the Tisch School of Dance. Of course, that was where Mrs. Giry and just about every other great dancer went.

As much as she had sacrificed for dancing, she never imagined herself as a real, true dancer. Not even when she broke her toe from dancing pointe too much. Meg ever imagine a career in ballet. Maybe she could open up her own little private studio after college. That would be fun. Studying it was what she really wanted, she just wanted to be the perfect dancer. Not only would Meg satisfy herself, but also her mother.

Mrs. Giry was as strict as ever with her daughter. She was only extra protective and careful now. Dancing every day was the perfect excuse to keep Meg inside. She was dancing as much as Christine was singing, which meant both girls were doing an exhausting amount of work.

She had missed Christine, they hadn't seen each other outside of school in a long time. That Friday, instead of going to a party, they decided it would be better to go to Meg's house and watch a movie. Meg was her normal, chatty and loud self while Christine laughed along with her.

"So, seriously, Tisch? That's awesome," she mused, imagining her best friend dancing at one of the best schools in the country. "Maybe you'll be, like, a Rockette someday! That would be so funny!"

Meg laughed at her best friend's enthusiasm. "Well, if I get in. I'm only a junior, anyway. Shouldn't you be the one looking at colleges?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking. I just haven't decided yet. I've heard University of New Hampshire has a good education department. I was thinking about being an English teacher or something."

"English?"

"It's my favorite subject."

"You know how many books you'll have to read to be an English teacher?" Meg asked her with a sigh, Christine weakly shook her head. "Remember when you, me and our moms all went to New York City?"

She nodded her head. How could she forget? It was the best night of her life.

"And you saved up all of your birthday and Christmas money to get us tickets to "Rigoletto" at the Metropolitan Opera? You paid for all four tickets yourself."

"Of course, Meg! It was amazing!" She thought back to that chilly, December night. Her father had loved all of Verdi's work, she only wished he could have been there, too.

"And every time that German girl sang, you had this cute little grin and I could tell you just loved her. You smiled through the whole thing and afterwords, I convinced our moms to get last minute, standing room only seats to "A Chorus Line on Broadway." Both girls reminisced with Meg's words. She did love the dancing in that.

"Yes, I remember, but what's the point of that?"

"Well, I loved A Chorus Line, so I'm going to try become a dancer because that's what I love. You loved Rigoletto, so why don't you want to become a singer?"

Christine sighed. "Oh, Meg, I just don't know yet. I love to sing."

"You're so good, too! I'm not going to lie, I honestly think you've become as good as the woman we saw that night. Could you imagine how good you'd be if you went to a conservatory?"

"Meg, stop..."

"I'm completely serious, Christine, you're amazing."

She stopped to listen to her friend's words. There was no way she could be right. Christine would never be as good as a famous, professional singer. But she did love to sing.

"Meg?" Her voice grew quiet. Meg looked over, slightly concerned over her friend's tone.

"What?"

"Oh, gosh..."

"What?" Meg asked again. "What's wrong?"

Christine took in a deep breath and the movie was paused, Meg was absolutely silent and the whole room seemed to wait in anticipation. "When I was little and my father was still alive, he used to tell me stories about a girl named Little Lotte, and she would be visited by the Angel of Music, it's an old Swedish tale. Ask Raoul, he should remember," Christine began with a dreamy look on her face and her eyes twinkling with her childhood memories. Meg could only look on, extremely curious to where this story would lead.

"He knew he was dying, my father, and he told me that I would always be protected by this angel, that my father was always with me through him. And I am protected, because he's always with me."

"Oh, that's sweet, Christine," Meg said, sort of dismissing her friend. "That really nice."

"Meg, the Angel of Music was the one who taught me how to sing. He's my teacher."

"You mean you actually talk to this... angel? He taught you how to sing? Are you alright? You look a little pale... You can't be serious," Meg questioned. Her thoughts were racing. How could a real angel, sent from a long dead man, be communicating with Christine?

"I'm completely serious."

"But.. have you ever seen him? What does he look like?"

"Well, he's very mysterious," Christine explained, and Meg almost wanted to laugh. This could not be real. "He wears a black cape and half of his face is covered by this mask, oh, and he wears a nice hat..."

"Does he fight the Joker too?" Meg asked her with dripping sarcasm. After seeing the hurt look on Christine's face, she immediately regretted speaking.

"Cut it out! I haven't told anyone about this yet, not even Raoul... I thought I could trust you, but I don't care if you make fun of me. The Angel of Music is real and he taught me how to sing and he was sent by my father!" she said, her face turning an unattractive red with anger. Meg had rarely seen Christine get mad. She was never one for showing a lot of emotion in the first place. Instantly, she felt bad.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry. It's just... hard to believe, that's all. Tell me more about him." Meg said gently. Christine's face softened and eagerly explained this strange case.

This man- or angel, rather- lived in the depths of the church, their town's very own church. He was a tall and slim man, with a beautiful way of speaking and moving. Meg tried to picture him, but just couldn't. There was no way... how could this be real?

It wasn't, she decided. Meg was going to wait it out, maybe Christine was just feeling sick or was playing some elaborate prank. If she brought it again, Meg was going to get help. If this angel was never mentioned again, she could just ignore it.

Leaving Christine's, she spent the rest of the night choreographing her dance and finally stopped after about. Mrs. Giry was pleased with her daughter's improvement and perhaps things were starting to look up for Meg.

* * *

_Well... it's been a while. Sorry, guys. I have actually been doing things, I'm working on a new fic that's just based on Phantom. Also, please don't bash the Meg/Enjolras thing, I just really like her as a character and there's plenty of E/E on the way! _


	14. Chapter 14

It had been many years since the dark had scared Erik. In many senses, he was practically fearless. The scariest thing a person could run into in the dark basements of the old church was undoubtedly him. He was what children were suppose to check under their bed for.

And what was he to be scared of? The rats?

The only thing that scared him anymore was Minister Martin, which was ironic. He was a little man with glasses, he wasn't very intimidating or exceptionally bright. Yet he was the only one who knew of Erik. Only a handful of people even knew he existed and somehow Minister Martin was one of them. How could he have been so careless to let the stupid minister of that stupid church find him?

Erik could have left he really wanted to do. But he didn't, there was one thing that was keeping him from fleeing the town of Alfred all together. Christine.

He couldn't ever leave her. She was the only thing that could make him feel truly... good. Sure, his music and his books could make him not feel terrible, but it was Christine- and only Christine- that would help him feel good. Slowly, she was changing his entire life.

As an example, he was more eager to venture out of his dark home. That is, as long as he was going to see her. Erik was also starting to appreciate the church choir more. Christine sang in it and even with out her, he had to admit they sounded decent. In fact, they were probably one of the best in the area. Not that Erik was an avid listener of small-town chancel choirs.

That afternoon was spent for some church social something or other- Erik could not be bothered to remember the name of it. However, the choir was singing a few, Romantic Era pieces and Christine had gone over some of the songs with him as a warm-up one day.

Erik liked to sometimes look at the common people that lived above him. As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Erik longed to be one of them. He just wanted to be a normal young man, he was at the age of a college student and liked to imagine himself as a young music major who for some reason still knew Christine.

They would get married (although she was only eighteen, it was still a lovely fantasy), they would live in a normal little house with normal children, a grand piano and a dog. He would buy her nice things and they might go for walks together on Sundays.

Erik shook the happy thought from his mind, observing himself in the dingy mirror he kept. The normal side of his face was exceptionally handsome. His mask created a sort of symmetry to his visage. Erik let a small smile escape from his lips, with the mask, he was nearly good-looking.

Being as swift and quiet as he could, Erik ventured through the self-constructed catacombs of his church. Every other moment, he stopped to admire the architecture of the old church.

"I know you're there," a quiet voice that grew with courage said. Erik's blood ran cold. No one had ever known that he was there. No one was suppose to.

He creaked to a place of silence, a single bead of sweat falling down his forehead.

"I know you're here," the voice continued, it was definitely the minister. "No one else believes me. But I know that you're here, even now. You see, I received your letter."

Erik wanted to faint, he never should have sent that letter. It ruined everything! He took a deep breath, he had to act like a man. If it was a war this minister wanted, it was a war he would get.

"I am here," Erik responded, dropping his voice an octave lower. He sounded tougher, more threatening. He could nearly sense the terror in the man's voice.

"I'm sending people today," the minister responded, "They're coming to kill you, whatever you are." Erik couldn't tell if he was lying or telling the truth. Either way, he had to respond to it somehow.

"I'm impossible to kill."

There was no reaction and Erik could faintly hear the steps leaving the area. Just a few minutes later, he had found a comfortable position to watch the people of Alfred Church, trying to put what had just occurred far behind him. He could forget it.

Erik didn't really recognize anyone, the people, in his opinion, were all so ordinary that they were beginning to look the same. The only one who stood out to him was, as usual, Christine. She was so... different looking (to him, at least) but that didn't mean she wasn't beautiful. Christine looked happy to be among the choir. They hadn't started singing yet.

He noticed sweet-looking Mrs. Daae, Christine's mother. He also remembered little Meg Giry, Christine's best friend, but the boy with her was unfamiliar to him.

With a slight pang of jealousy, Erik thought it might have been Raoul, Christine's other good friend. No, it wasn't, he reasoned. He was too good-looking.

Erik observed the boy further, he was actually gorgeous. He had curly blonde hair and big, brown eyes that complimented nice skin. He was like Apollo, the handsome God of Music. That's what Erik would have liked to look like. If he looked like that, he could live a normal life and Christine would love him...

He sighed. Well, good for Meg. Her boyfriend was everything Erik wasn't.

For a while, he allowed himself to enjoy the music. Sometimes, when there was a solo verse for just the women, or even better, just for the Sopranos, he could hear Christine's pretty, unique voice more clearly. In fact, he was nearly enjoying himself until he heard the door loudly open. He scowled, it was his absolute pet peeve when people walked in during a performance.

His entire body morphed to that of jealousy and anger, it was, of course, Raoul Chagny himself. God, Erik hated him. He absolutely hated Raoul Chagny. It was just his way of... being. He walked with such arrogance and Christine liked him so much. Erik didn't understand why, he didn't even think Raoul was that attractive.

His eyes wandered away from Christine, Raoul and Meg's boyfriend to Minister Martin. He was walking out of the room, again in the middle of a song (there really was no respect for music anymore) and Erik felt like he had to follow him.

For the first time in a long time, Erik walked along his passages feeling scared. What if the minister was true to his word, what if there really were people coming to kill him? He wasn't ready to die! Erik hadn't even lived that long. What if something happened? Would Christine cry?

Erik was not going to die.

"I know you're here," Minister Martin repeated, his tone tougher and suddenly menacing. Erik peered out from the wall, he wished he could take a step back. He was holding a gun. "Come out and face me!"

Erik stayed where he was. He could take that little man. Well, if he had a gun. For the first time in a long time, Erik would have to fight. With a deep breath, he reached in his coat pocket, desperately searching for something that could help him.

His hands stumbled across a long, cold rope and a sea of bad memories flooded back t o him. The Punjab Lasso.

It was funny, he thought, a few weeks ago this Minister Martin had no idea Erik even existed, and now they were prepared to kill each other.

"Come out, coward!" the man threatened again and Erik allowed himself to slip through the wall, almost feeling sorry for the minister. He didn't have a chance.

For a moment, the two men just stared at each other. Erik, tall, mysterious, half of his face covered by a porcelain mask. The minister, small, skinny and angry, gripping on to the old gun. It was an odd sight, really, to see a man of the church wielding a weapon.

A loud bang interrupted Erik's scattered thoughts. On instinct, he ungracefully jumped out of the way. The bullet erupted creating a loud noise. The choir, who was off in the distance still sang, all of the people in the Parish Room hoping that they had all just misheard something. Christine, most of all, oblivious that her angel was going to be a murderer.

Again.

Erik grabbed Minister Martin's collar, dragging him into the wall's passages. He shot and shot his gun, but the best thing he could do was graze Erik's side. It barely hurt him at all.

It was people like him that ruined everything. This man and all like him were the ones that kept Erik from everything. Why did people have to hate him? Why did his own mother abandon him because he was ugly?

The minister fired again and again, but he was starting to get sick from Erik's grip and was firing wherever he could. Without regret, the noose was slipped around Minister Martin's neck, and Erik found sick comfort in tightening it further and further.

Why him? Why did everything have to happen to him? Why did he have to be born like he was?

Why couldn't he be normal?

As the choir sang a more upbeat tune, Martin squirmed and struggled against the tightness of the rope around his neck until he stopped flailing, turned a sickly pale and collapsed on the ground. Erik laughed bleakly. Serves him right. He had every right to kill the man.

Now what to do with the body? He couldn't just leave it inside the wall to rot. Erik lifted the corpse and let it push against the wall in the Parish Room. In a few moments, the body would fall into the room and Erik quickly found another safe place to view the chaos soon to come.

The choir was still singing innocently, he hadn't meant for it to turn out that way, but the body fell from the wall Christine was halfway leaning against as she sang. She heard a creak and cautiously moved away. Her expression quickly changed and screamed as of the carcass of her minister nearly fell on top of her.

Her screams led to more screams as one of the women standing next to her led Christine away from the body. Barely anyone could stand to look at the strangled man, a noose still tied around his neck. The entire choir moved away from where they were standing, all faces terrified. The people scrambled around the room, reaching for loved ones.

"Please, remain where you are!" the elderly choirmaster commanded, "Please! Remain in your seats! This was all... an accident, simply an accident!"

However, people ran around the room, crowding around the only exit. Erik allowed himself to laugh at the dumb, terrified people.

It was people like them who had ruined his life...

Christine's face welled up in tears. She had figured it out, that her angel was the killer. Erik's laughing subsided as he watched her cry, a combination of fear and sadness. He watched as Raoul came over to her and put a comforting arm around Christine's shoulders. She was practically shaking and was crying into his sleeves.

Erik had made a terrible mistake.

Raoul had also managed to find Mrs. Daae and calm her down. Christine's mother was probably thankful to have a young man like Raoul Chagny in her life, Erik thought bitterly. Instead of feeling remorse for killing the minister, Erik wanted to use the Punjab Lasso again.

Meg and the beautiful boy had joined the little group. The small girl was going on and on, talking non-stop (her own way of coping) as the dead body continued to the lie there. No one went near it or made any attempt to get rid of it. The couple left and Erik was momentarily distracted by Meg and her the good-looking boy's hasty leave from the church and out into the parking lot.

Many little groups had emerged outside of the church, all were panicked and confused. Most people could not even seem to process what had happened. The police hadn't shown up yet. However, two important people were missing. Where were Christine and Raoul?

Erik watched as his Christine was still crying into her best friend's sleeve, for some reason, she had led him into the Sanctuary, where church services were usually held. As far as they knew, they were completely alone.

"Wby did you bring us here? We have to go back and find your mother!" Raoul insisted, nervously pacing down the pew aisles.

"No! We can't! He'll kill me, his eyes, they burn! He'll kill me!" Christine screamed, practically in hysterics. The best Raoul could do was pat her arm gently.

"Don't say that!" he responded, thinking of his best friend dead with a terrible shudder. "Who is this he?"

"The Angel of Music!" she answered, still crying.

"The Angel of- what? You can't be serious."

"That's just what Meg said! The Angel of Music is here. He killed the minister and if we're not careful we'll be next!"

"I don't understand, you're going to have to start from the beginning," Raoul suggested, helping Christine to a seat.

"Do you remember Little Lotte?" she asked him quietly.

Of course, how could he forget Mr. Daae's charming little fairytales? The memories flooded back to him. Raoul could just remember the two of them having picnics in his attic as the kind father told them stories of his homeland. Little Lotte had always been Christine's favorite, the tale of a young girl who was visited by the Angel of Music.

"As my father died, he promised me that he would always be protecting me through the Angel of Music. He's real, Raoul, and he lives in this very church and he taught me how to sing. He was always so kind, but something must have ruined him. He was the one that killed Minister Martin, I know it! I could tell by that awful laughter we heard as the body fell. He has secret passages in the wall, Raoul! I know he was the killer. And if he were to kill an innocent man, why wouldn't he want to murder me?"

"Oh, Christine..." Raoul muttered, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"I don't think he's an angel anymore. I think he's a man, a tortured genius. His voice and his music is absolutely heavenly, but his music expresses the sadness of this world. You have to look into his eyes, you don't understand pain unless you've looked into his eyes!" She paused for a breath, "And his music, you'll never hear anything like it..."

"What you heard was a dream, I'm sure of it."

"There is no dream! I've been to his home, directly underneath the floor we are standing on. Angel or not, there is a killer in this church who has brought back music to my life. He's taken my father's place and taught me everything I know."

Raoul watched helplessly as Christine burst into another fit of tears for her father, for her angel and for her own sanity. This angel- this man- was ruining everything.

"Please stop crying, please. It kills me to see you like this. It's going to be okay, I'm here," he whispered into her ear. His words seemed to help, "I'm here."

She reached out to hug him in the big empty room, the large church chandelier hanging above them like a protector. "Oh, Raoul, what are we going to do?"

"Christine, I love you," he confessed, deciding to let the words come out of his mouth.

From above, Erik could only watch. _Christine, I love you. _The words were like a dagger. Each syllable hurting him a little more. Her returning smile and look of mutual love killed him more than any lasso ever could.

"You do?" she asked excitedly, "How long have you?"

"A... a long time now, I think," Raoul admitted, desperately hoping her smile was not going to lead to laughing at him.

"I do too!" she said happily, embracing him in another hug, a more romantic hug. "I love you, Raoul!"

Both giggled like little children and Christine was spun around until she was dizzy. In one last horrible blow, they kissed and Erik could feel his heart physically break. He wanted to look away so badly, but forced himself to continue watching the perfect, young pair.

"And I'll never let anything happen to you," he promised her. Erik scowled, Christine was the last person he would want to harm.

He had given Christine everything. He was a friend, a father, he had written her beautiful music! Erik wanted to die, he wanted to kill himself.

No, he wanted to kill them. Erik wanted to kill Raoul and Christine. He wanted to kill them both.

In a moment of impulse and rage, he decided he was going to do it. Reaching from his spot, hidden inside the spacious balcony, he looked down. There was the chandelier, just above their heads, hanging innocently. It would not be hard to slip it off from it's place and leave quietly.

Christine was Erik's everything, yet he was nothing to her...

His hands quivering, he reached over to the hook of the two hundred year old chandelier and watched it fall.


	15. Chapter 15

Enjolras typically considered himself to be fairly brave, but what had happened to him that Sunday still made him feel shocked later that night. He had never seen a dead body before, the dead minister's strangled neck still made him want to throw up.

"Enjolras! I saw about ten cop cars outside of the church! You were there, weren't you? Oh my God, what happened?" As expected, Eponine was the first person to know about the events of that afternoon.

"Oh, gosh... I don't even know... it's all kind of a blur. The minister of the church, you know, he just, I don't know, he was strangled. I don't know." Enjolras hated to recount the details.

"What do you mean you don't know? Was he strangled or wasn't he?"

"Uh... he was. He was definitely killed. I just, can't believe it happened."

"I understand, must've been awful... Was anyone else hurt?" she asked him.

"No, but you know Christine Daae, right?"

"Yeah, I know her," Eponine responded, thinking of her now, some-what close friend with a bit of panic.

"The body of the minister, it just kind of fell out of the wall and it landed right next to her. It was awful, she looked like she was going to throw up. She just kept shaking for the rest of the time, saying crazy things about how she knew the killer..."

"Oh my gosh! That's terrible! Will she be okay?"

"I don't know, it definitely shook her up. She's not going to be around school tomorrow. I think she'll be okay, I don't even know, she was acting really weird..."

"And she's so nice, too. Christine's like one of the nicest people..."

"How do you know her?" Enjolras asked.

"I helped her in math a little while ago. We're pretty good friends. Why did you go see Christine, anyway? I didn't know you were friends..."

"Oh, I'm not. I just went with Meg, you know Meg? She's in your grade. I don't know, I had nothing to do so I just tagged along to watch Christine sing in her church choir. It was just so unexpected... I still feel really... not right about it."

"Hey, you had a hard day. Just go to bed now, maybe you should skip school tomorrow," Eponine suggested.

"No, I'm going to go. There's no point in staying at home and focusing on what happened. It's better to act like everything's normal."

"Alright, see you tomorrow then."

"Bye, Eponine."

After the phone call, Eponine had to admit she felt a multitude of different things. She was absolutely sad for Christine and even Enjolras, though he hadn't experienced the worst of it. She felt pity for the minister's family and his friends- no one in their small town was ever murdered. Not murdered in cold blood. Or was he even killed? Maybe he committed suicide.

Eponine didn't know.

All she knew was she felt bad for her friends and was glad that she wasn't there. Her problems with Marius and her family seemed so small in comparison. Although she tried to stay focused on pity for Christine, Enjolras and the poor minister, the back of her mind was repeating only one sentence.

_I just went with Meg, you know Meg? _

Meg Giry. Eponine tried to think of what she knew about her. The little, blonde girl had dated Courfeyrac when they were sophomores or something, but even then they had never been particularly friendly. She was really into dance, Eponine knew that. Meg had never received much more than a passing thought in her mind.

Why didn't Enjolras want to spend time with her? Had he finally gotten tired of her too? Like all of the gossipy, judgmental people of Alfred? Like her parents? Like Marius?

She already could imagine it. Meg and Enjolras were going to become best friends, and he would forget about Eponine, just like Marius had. Well, it was a bit of an exaggeration to say Marius had forgotten her, but Cosette had easily changed everything by just... existing.

Cosette had changed everything. Enjolras probably even met Meg through Cosette, because they were riends because everyone seemed to love Cosette and she fit in with everyone else perfectly.

"Eponine?" a voice asked her, she quickly realized it was Marius and uncharacteristically blushed at the sound of him.

"Sorry, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"No problem, I was just wondering if you know how to do this?" he asked her, shoving a binder her way. It was already study hall, she could hardly believe their entire Monday had passed. Effortlessly, she could explain it to him, math was probably the only thing she was good at, Eponine thought bitterly.

"I was just thinking about what happened yesterday." And that wasn't a complete lie, anyway.

"I know! Crazy, right? Everyone who was there didn't come in today, besides Enjolras," Marius commented. He had heard the worst of the murder, not only was he good friends with Enjolras and Raoul, Cosette was best friends with the two girls who were there.

"It's so sad, too. You never hear anything like that around this area, anyway," Eponine agreed, shuffling through her homework, while worrying about an upcoming Spanish test. It really had never been her best subject.

It was hard to deny that Marius was good-looking. He was one of the rare people to never suffer from an awkward, middle school phase and Eponine had always admired him. Even if he did have a girlfriend, they were still friends and he was kind, funny and smart. As she thought about it, there really was no reason NOT to like Marius.

Of course, Eponine still liked him. No, like wasn't a strong enough word to describe it. Eponine loved Marius, she did. She loved him.

However was it impossible to start loving him like a brother, and nothing more? Maybe. Eponine was going to try it. She could still love him, just a different kind of love.


	16. Chapter 16

Raoul Chagny was the first to return to school (excluding Enjolras), with plenty of stories to tell his close friends from that Sunday. The first Monday after the murder, he had spent his morning down in the police office with the still distraught Christine. They had been questioned separately, so Raoul had no idea whether she was still spouting out nonsense about "the Angel of Music" to the authorities.

The day after that, he had accompanied Christine and Mrs. Daae to the doctor. While Christine was extremely frustrated that no one could believe her, both Raoul and her mother had to be concerned. The doctors could not fine any signs of brain disease, but suggested that witnessing the dead body of Minister Martin had triggered the trauma she was still facing over her father's death. The Angel of Music, one of her father's fairytale stories, was her way of coping with another death.

"Please, Raoul, Mamma, you've got to believe me! I don't know if Erik is the Angel of Music or not, I doubt the Angel is real anymore... But someone taught me how to sing!"

"Who is Erik?" her mother asked Christine, growing more and more concerned.

"He's the one that taught me how to sing, he told me he was the Angel of Music!"

"You taught yourself how to sing, Christine," Raoul attempted to remind her, "You're always singing scales and stuff in your room, everyday."

"Scales that he taught me!"

The three of them went on like that for most of the day, until Raoul returned to school that Wednesday. Meg came back the day after that, Thursday, and Enjolras had been in school all week.

Maybe Christine was right, maybe there was some strange man that had taught her how to sing. The thought that could have happened, and he had no idea, was sickening, scary and fascinating at the same time.

Raoul felt like a fish out of water, as if he had come back after a three-month long summer vacation, although it had only been two days. His whole life seemed different. Most people moved across the halls, not caring enough to question Raoul on the mysterious murder. Of course, he had talked to Enjolras and a few of their other friends about it, but life for him continued in the usual mundane manner, no matter how different he felt internally.

"Yeah, that's awful," Marius commented during lunch period. "And Christine's not doing well?"

"No... I don't even know, really. She's just having a hard time," Raoul told his friends. 'A hard time' was what he and the Daae's had agreed to call it for the time being, trying not to get word out that Christine might just have well been going insane.

"Cosette told me she's seen her a few times with Meg, but I haven't really heard much else about her since," Marius said and Raoul thought of Cosette for the first time in a long time. Cosette Valean... when was the last time he had thought of her?

His head brought him back to a far away thought of when he was shifting through his father's old police papers. The murder of three in Concord, with one of the possible killers named Valjean... that was Cosette's last name.

Was it just coincidence that a Valjean family moved to their small, harmless town the same time as a vicious murder occurred? It had to have been.

Raoul didn't know much about Cosette's family in the first place. Her full name was very French sounding, but he knew nothing about her home life. Raoul thought he heard Marius say something about her being an only child with a dead mother, but he never really listened much when Marius went on rants about the 'love of his life.'

After school, he went to visit Christine again, but she still held on firmly to her fable of the Angel of Music.

"Okay, okay. So, I'm admitting that the Angel of Music isn't real, but there is definitely a man named Erik who wears a cape and a mask and I've talked to him. Whether or not he is the killer is beyond me, but someone was talking to me. You don't think I'm insane, do you?" Christine, despite the trauma she had faced, was extremely talkative with Raoul the past few days.

"I believe you. I'm not concerned with who the killer is. That's my father's job. I didn't know the minister, but I love you. I'm only worried about you," Raoul told her, grabbing her hand tightly. Christine had spent her day in bed, wrapped under the covers, a book on her nightstand.

"I love you, too."

Raoul smiled, he was beginning to feel better about Christine. She would be back to normal in no time. Well, at least her sweet oddness that was normal for her.

"So you're feeling better, than?"

"Oh, yes, I'm feeling much better. How was school today?"

"Good."

"And Enjolras and Meg were fine? They seemed to be okay?" she asked. Again, Raoul nodded.

"How was Cosette? I hope she was helping Meg along. You know, she texted me today, but I just didn't feel like talking to her. I've spent so much time in bed and I'm just tired a lot of the time."

There was her name again. Cosette.

"How is Cosette?" he countered, "I didn't see her today."

"Oh, well, I did see her yesterday. She and Meg came to visit and she seemed just fine. I miss being in school."

"Will you be back next week?" Raoul asked, wishing he could learn more about Cosette Valjean.

"Yes, definitely. I feel better when this whole murder is behind us. Oh, God, I still feel weird from it."

"I do too," he assured her, "We all are. Even Enjolras is still out of sorts from it."

"I wish it never happened," she said in a soft moan.

"Me too."

They continued on with their visit. Raoul was excited she was going to go back to school, things would start to seem normal again. They could get to the bottom of the murder, Christine's obsession with the Angel of Music would be solved and done with and everything could go back to normal.

Normal, that sounded pretty good to him.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in forever, but my laptop broke and I lost the chapter I was planning on posting. Hopefully, these two mini chapters make up for the time I spent away. Please review! _


	17. Chapter 17

Marius hadn't actually formally met Cosette's father before. He could only try to imagine him, Marius had only seen him once or twice from far away.

As much as he knew, Cosette's father was a fairly old man who wasn't her biological father. They lived alone, which was enough for Marius to be fairly suspicious about the entire ordeal. It was pretty weird, a young girl living with some old man who wasn't even her real father. However, he invited Marius over for dinner when they had officially started 'going out.'

They were probably close, Marius could guess, because it was just the two of them. He tried to imagine himself in Mr. Jean Valjean's position, his only daughter had her first ever serious boyfriend.

If he was Cosette's father, he would have his shot gun ready.

"That was nice of them to invite you for dinner. We can have Cosette and her father over sometimes soon," his mother commented, not noticing her son's nervousness.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Marius agreed, not really paying attention as he bid goodbye.

The Valjean's lived in a big, fancy house in European style. It had a beautiful garden in the front decorated in gourds and pumpkins, it was just what he had expected.

Putting his hands in his pockets and then deciding to take them out again, Marius waited for someone to come to the door. At almost the same time he heard Cosette and her father.

"Could you get that, honey?"

"I'll get it, Dad!"

The door quickly opened and Marius' face met with Cosette's. She smiled at him kindly, her eyes lit up with excitement. Marius tried to mimic her expression.

Jean Valjean was not exactly the man he was expecting. He was tall and strong looking, with a face of glasses and grey hair. Mr. Valjean even had a warm expression on his face and probably no intention of making Marius nervous.

"Dad, this is Marius. Marius, this is my father."

"Nice to meet you," they said simultaneously. Cosette's father merely laughed it off and offered his hand.

As it turned out, he was good for a conversation and also a surprisingly good cook. Their dinner had turned out a million times better than Marius could have expected.

Mr. Valjean- or Jean, as he insisted (Marius doubted he would ever use that title, Mr. Valjean was fine for him), had actually lived an interesting life. Born in south France, the Valjean family had moved to America when he was ten .

He had suffered through hard teenage years, both of his parents died and lived in the bad parts of Massachusetts for some time.

"The only bright point in my life was when I first met Fantine," he remembered.

"That was my mother," Cosette interjected, trying not to disrupt her father's deep musings. Marius figured he hadn't meant to reflect into his life story as much as he had.

"I helped her out of some hard stuff and that was a really great feeling. To be able to help someone is a great feeling," he said. Marius nodded his head.

"But she died and I went to go save her daughter, like something from a story. And she's still the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the first time I loved in a long time," he continued, Marius could only smile in return at his remark. Cosette looked embarrassed.

"Daddy..."

"It's true. And you've turned into a lovely young woman," he remarked. Cosette had turned a certain shade of pink, but Marius didn't mind. It was sweet to hear the man's honest thoughts.

"And I think she also has very good taste," Valjean continued, sending a non-discreet wink Marius's way.

"Thank you," he said to Cosette's father. It was his turn to feel embarrassed.

The rest of their dinner was still pleasant. Marius didn't think he would get along with Valjean as well as he actually did. However, he was an interesting man and a good conversation partner. It was finally time to leave and he said a quick goodbye to both of the Valjean's. He wondered if it would be okay to kiss Cosette goodbye, but just forgot about it and walked out the door.

"I'll walk you out," Mr. Valjean had offered, leading him outside of the door.

"Thank you... sir," Marius said, searching for the correct word to address the man with.

"You're quite welcome, Marius. To be honest, I didn't think I was going to like you. Cosette's never had a serious boyfriend before and I was nervous."

"Yeah, I haven't really had one either... A girlfriend, I mean, not a boyfriend!" he added hastily, not trying to mess up his first impression within a minute. To his relief, Mr. Valjean just laughed.

"Well, it was nice to meet you."

They shook hands again and Marius drove home with relief and contentedness. He liked Jean Valjean.

To Cosette's delight, her father and Marius had gotten along marvelously. He thought her new boyfriend was kind and intelligent and marvelous was really the only way to describe their night. Marvelous.

She hoped that she could meet his parents soon, they were probably just as nice and sweet as Marius himself. They were getting rather serious, she decided it was time to try to impress him somehow. Marius seemed to sacrifice so much for her.

Namely, she really wanted to become friends with Eponine Thenardier.

Eponine had been Marius's best friend since they were in middle school- or maybe it was elementary school. His other close friend was Enjolras, but Cosette knew him fairly well. He seemed nice.

Cosette only had one class with Eponine, French III. It was an okay class with Madame Bougon, but Cosette didn't really have many friends in that class. She surveyed the room. Jason Prouvaire sat, very bored, attempting to write something in French. What he was writing, she didn't really know, but it wasn't the vocabulary they were learning. _L'amour _was written more than a few times. Jason was a good friend of Marius, she knew him sort of well and they sort of talked. No one else in the class, though, really stuck out to her besides Eponine.

Though she didn't know of Eponine Thenardier getting much attention, Cosette thought she was pretty. She had the rare combination of pitch black hair and very fair skin. Her hair was long and wavy, Cosette wished her hair was that nice and thick, her hair was so thin and short in comparison. Eponine was pretty, she seemed nice. If Marius liked her so much, why wouldn't Cosette?

She had started listening to her teacher again just in time to hear that they would be doing a partner activity for the rest of class. Cosette grinned, this was the perfect chance!

As fast as she could, she made her way to Eponine's desk towards the back of the classroom. "Hey, Eponine. Do you want to be partners?"

"Oh, yeah... sure," Eponine said. She sounded very surprised.

"Have you taken French all three years here?" Cosette asked her, trying to start friendly conversation.

"Yeah, I have. Did you learn French at your own school?" Eponine asked, not nearly as enthusiastically. At least she was trying to make an attempt, though.

"My dad's been trying to teach me since I was little, but I'm so bad at it," she laughed, "I should be in French I."

"Is your father French?"

"Yeah, he was born in Nice, if you've heard of that place."

"Oh, I know Nice. It's near Italy, I've heard it's gorgeous there."

"It so is, I have been there before. You would love it."

They talked for a little while longer and successfully completed the day's worksheet. Cosette reasoned they were a good team. They weren't best friends, no, but they definitely had the makings of being good friends.


	18. Chapter 18

Christine was breaking Meg's heart. She really was. Her best friend only seemed to get worse and was sending everyone in spirals trying to figure out the truth to her Angel of Music. The whole process made Meg's head hurt.

She still hadn't returned to school and stayed at home all day alone (her mother could not afford to take off any more days from work after staying home with Christine for the first week). Meg had tried to visit Christine as often as she could after school, but her mother (alongside her own determination) was keeping her at home, dancing. Ballet was, without a doubt, her top priority.

It was like some kind of dream to Meg. She had actually been considered for early admission at the Tisch School of Arts. She was only a junior, it was the one of the best things that had ever happened. Of course, a lot of it had to do with the fact that her mother was Antoinette Giry, but Meg was willing to take it.

"Meg, that's wonderful! That's the most amazing news I think I've ever heard!" Christine, in a lively fashion, nearly sprung out from her bed to give Meg a hug. She hadn't looked as animated or joyful in weeks. Meg even saw a tear of happiness well up in Christine's eye.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Meg. That's so great! Meg!" Christine said, grinning widely, "You have no idea how happy I am for you!"

"I barely even have a week to prepare myself, I'm going to New York on Friday, my audition is that Saturday."

"You know what? You're going to be a big star one day," Christine rambled, "And you're so good, Meg. You're such a good dancer."

"Are you going to come?" Meg asked her, observing the messy room covered in used, tear-soaked tissues that littered the floor, many nearly deflated get well balloons and many bouquets of flowers that were beginning to wilt.

"Oh, I can't come. Look at me, I'm a mess," she said, trying to laugh off the situation, but ended up making both girls feel more miserable. Still, though, Meg had to admit her friend wasn't well. It would be along time before things would feel normal again.

"But, I need you..." Meg trailed off, becoming speechless. How could she go to New York City, to her most important audition, and not have Christine by her side? Just Meg and her mother? She would go crazy!

"No, you don't. You're so good, you don't need anyone. I would say bring someone else though, probably, because you're mom's going to be a bad influence on you, I know that."

"I wish you would just come," Meg sighed, noticing her friend was crying. They hugged again.

"I wish I could too, but I have things of my own to handle right now. You don't need me. And you can text me or call me any time you want," Christine insisted, nestling herself under her blanket again.

"That makes me feel better," Meg admitted, happy with the thought she could still talk to her best friend.

"I'm not even worried. Tisch is really going to miss out if you don't get accepted right away. You're destined to go there, or somewhere even better."

She smiled at her friend's words. "You really mean it?"

"Of course I do."

Just a few days later, Meg found herself on a train off to Grand Central Station with her mother and Enjolras. The three of them made an odd traveling group. However, Mrs. Giry was not the easiest person to travel with, she was a constant complainer and insisted that Enjolras carry around her large, over packed suitcase.

"Marguerite, I don't want you to worry, but tomorrow might be the most important day of your life," her mother said as they boarded their train. Meg nearly threw up right then and there.

Enjolras was very quiet and polite. Mrs. Giry had assumed that he was Meg's boyfriend, which only made her feel more uncomfortable than she already was. She didn't know what had made her want to bring Enjolras along for her big audition, but she had invited him and he seemed willing to come, was able to buy himself a hotel room and that was that.

"Hey, I got you something," he said, nudging her and reaching into his bag. Excitedly, he pulled out a little black box and Meg reached for it, pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! This is so sweet!" He had been nice enough to give her a little necklace, with a single charm in the shape of little, pink ballet slippers. Of course, over the years, she had received very similar gifts, but it still was very nice and pretty.

Meg gave him a fairly awkward hug considering she was sitting next to him and the fact that her mother was watching them. Happily, she put the necklace on, trying to let her nerves leave her as the train moved through the old, steel tracks.

By some coincidence (she had planned her audition routine for nearly a year prior to), Meg was going to preform the Angel Solo from _The Nutcracker_. She had played one of the little angels in that routine when she was little, so it did have a special place in her heart.

For the rest of their ride, Meg let Enjolras listen to the the same ballet, which he seemed to enjoy. Maybe bringing her friend was actually a good idea.

As she did live in the Northeast, Meg was in New York City a lot. However, the large city never ceased to amaze her. The bright lights and enormous crowds of people were so different than Alfred, New Hampshire.

She waited through the rest of the day for her big moment. She went out to lunch with her mother and Enjolras, they toured through the Tisch campus among other things. Mrs. Giry seemed to be very conflicted about Enjolras. For one, he was just one of Meg's random friends who she invited to New York with them and interrupted what could have been a nice, mother-daughter trip. She sincerely believed it was one of the most important weekends of Meg's life so far. However, he was very polite and she secretly hoped that he was her boyfriend.

Meg was beginning to hope for the same thing. She couldn't help it, she was barely able to admit it in her head, but she was kind of developing a crush for Enjolras. He was so nice and she was thankful for her presence. She couldn't even begin to imagine the stress she would feel if it was just her and her mother, who seemed to be more nervous than Meg was.

Mrs. Giry had gone out that night. Despite her old age, she still had plenty of friends and former co-workers to visit. At first, she thought it might be good for Meg to meet some big names in dance, but then quickly decided she was to go to bed early in preparation for her big day.

It was only about six o'clock, but Meg was starting to get tired already. With her mother gone, she had been spending time in Enjolras's hotel room, flipping through the service book.

"Are we going to get room service?" he asked her.

"I think so, my mom doesn't want me to leave the room."

"I think we should go out somewhere," Enjolras said simply, which confused her- but it also sounded like a great idea. The idea of leaving the hotel (which was strictly forbidden by her mother) and walking around New York City with Enjolras sounded like the coolest thing ever.

"You know, I think we should, too."

Meg and Enjolras ventured out of the hotel into the cool, November air. They quickly found a cab and he already seemed to have a destination.

"Times Square would be good, thanks."

Meg laughed. There wasn't anything that funny, but it was simply exhilarating to drive through New York City with Enjolras by her side. The colorful lights, the warm taxi and crowds of people all made it more perfect.

They stopped by the M&M store, shopped a little bit and even rode the Toys 'R Us Ferris Wheel (they had gotten the Barbie car). It was probably the most fun either of them had all year. New York City was definitely beautiful and charming, Meg could only imagine herself living there.

Enjolras and Meg decided on not eating out anywhere that was too fancy or expensive. Besides, they were really suppose to go back to the hotel soon. Although it was only about eighty-thirty, Mrs. Giry would probably be coming home soon. Actually, they could only hope she wasn't home already.

Eventually, they settled for a very small deli where their New York dinner was reduced to grilled cheeses and snapples. The restaurant they had settled for was fairly small and while it received many takeout orders, Enjolras and Meg sat alone at a pair of tables.

"Are you nervous?"

"No, I'm excited," Meg answered. It was true, she wasn't nervous. If anything, she could audition next year, when she was a senior. Sure, there was a terrible scare in the pit of her stomach. What if she completely screwed up and embarrassed herself? But, it was dance. And Meg loved to dance.

"That's cool."

"What, that I'm not nervous?"

"No, just your whole life, like the dance part. It must be nice to know what you want to do with your life," Enjolras told her, honestly, "I really admire it."

"You must have some idea."

"Nope, I don't have a clue. My dad wants me to be a lawyer, like him, but I don't know."

"Well, what do you love?"

"I like history."

"Lawyers often major in history, so maybe you should be a lawyer."

"No, I want to go into politics, probably. So, maybe I could be a lawyer and then work up to politics. I love government," Enjolras confessed, "But being a politician is so uncertain..."

"More uncertain than being a professional dancer?" Meg challenged him.

"Okay, maybe not. But still, I don't like not knowing stuff."

"That's part of life, isn't it? Not knowing things?" she asked, Enjolras shrugged.

"I guess so. I'm just confused about everything, now, and you'd think I'd be fine with acceptance at Princeton of all colleges."

"What are you confused about?"

"People," he answered simply, and looked to be sort of embarrassed.

"Your father?" Enjolras shook his head. "A girl?" he nodded.

Meg wanted to hope that girl was her. Somehow, though, she knew it wasn't. It was always some other girl. Why would this time be any different?

"It's not me, right?" he shook his head. "It's your friend, Eponine Thenardier, right?" another nod. Meg sighed. "I should have noticed the way you look at her."

"She doesn't like me back," Enjolras murmured. Only then did he notice the look in Meg's eyes, hurt and rejection. "Oh, Meg, I'm sorry. I didn't realize..."

"No, no it's not really that. I think I only liked you because I thought you did. It's not even that, it's okay."

"Are you sure?" Enjolras asked her cautiously, trying to be as sympathetic as he could.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's just being second in general. I'm always second, it's usually to Christine, and I love her so much, but it still sucks. You wouldn't know what that feels like, though," she tried to say it without any bitterness in her voice, but it was true.

Enjolras really didn't know what it was like to be second.

* * *

_Sorry it's been so long. Once it's summer, I'll update more regularly. Thanks, I love everyone's support! :)_


	19. Chapter 19

Meg wasn't nervous until she had actually entered the school. Tisch School was definitely the artsy area of NYU. It was actually very homey, it almost all seemed familiar to Meg somehow. Oh, she really wanted to go to there!

Surprisingly, nobody had recognized Mrs. Giry as the famous dancer. In fact, the person getting the most attention in Meg's small party was undeniably Enjolras. Many of the girls looked at him, giggled and looked away. He was one of the only men in the giant waiting room anyway. Meg was initially very jealous of the girls looking at Enjolras. Although, it was the girls who were so absorbed in their audition they hadn't noticed him that were going to be Meg's real competition of the day.

A woman emerged with a clipboard and began to call out names.

"Giry, Meg!" she announced and Meg turned to her mother and Enjolras.

"Well, I guess this is it. Wish me luck," she said with a weak smile.

"I know you'll be great," her mother told her confidently.

Meg joined the line of hopeful dancers, but not without hearing a loud "Go Meg!" from Enjolras, which earned himself a stare from Mrs. Giry and a few other people. That was her last glance of them before entering a spacious dance studio, probably the nicest Meg had ever seen.

The people of Tisch were extremely serious. Not one smile was given as they collected resumes and pictures. Some of the girls matched Tisch in extreme serious. Meg decided not to even try being friendly or nice, she had to come off as dedicated and professional as the other girls.

The woman at the front, one of the instructors, was very pretty and foreign looking. She looked kind of familiar to Meg, maybe she was also a famous ballerina. Quickly and without repeating instructions, she spent the next hour teaching the girls a fast paced routine. Meg couldn't think of a time she had put so much dedication into learning something.

Some of the girls were catching on much quicker, but a lot of girls were doing a lot worse than her. Maybe she was doing well.

After about an hour, they were finally done, Meg could take a water break and return to her mother. All in all, she thought she did a good job. She was typically a quick learner, maybe not as quick as some of the other girls, but still pretty quick.

When she returned to Mrs. Giry and Enjolras, she was bombarded with questions (mostly from her mother, but Enjolras was quite curious, too).

She was willing to tell her mother about it, how some of the girls were amazingly talented and how she still did good despite that.

"Hey, maybe one of the other girls thought you were amazing," Enjolras pointed out, which instantly made her feel better.

"I'm glad we took you along," Meg joked, punching him in the arm.

Mrs. Giry continued her questions, each one making her feel better. Maybe she actually did do a good job. She never noticeably messed up. In fact, it was safe to say that she had done the entire dance gracefully and professionally.

"Profession is the key, you need to look none of this is new to you," Mrs. Giry advised her.

"So, you did the audition. What now?" Enjolras asked.

"That was only the first part. Now we have to wait and see if I make the callback, so I can preform the dance I actually practiced for."

As they faced a two hour wait, the group of three went out to lunch. Meg hadn't even faced up with how nervous she was. She really thought she was on the borderline of making the cut or not. How she was going to impress the Tisch committee with her solo audition was an entirely different problem.

"Do you want to practice your dance again before we go back to the school?" Mrs. Giry asked her anxiously.

"No... I think I'm good," Meg said, surveying the restaurant. Where was she going to practice anyway? "I might not even make the cut."

"Don't say that! I'm sure you did," Mrs. Giry responded, as if Meg had said something terrible. "All I'm worried about is what I'm going to do without you when you're in college."

Meg smiled wearily at her mother's comment, "Thanks Mom."

She hadn't felt as nervous as she did then. It would just be so embarrassing if she had to go home. Some of the girls were basically perfect, both in dancing and appearance. They were tall and skinny and still very graceful. Meg was very short, especially for a dancer and was heavier, at least in comparison to some of the other girls.

The walk back to the school was nerve-racking. She still had time, she could audition again next year...

"There's the list of people who made it," Enjolras pointed out, as they walked closer and closer to bulletin board covered in just one, eery paper.

"I don't think I can look..." Meg muttered, putting her head down. "Someone else go see."

"Hey, don't be nervous! You got in!" Enjolras called back to her.

"I got in? I got in!" Meg exclaimed, running into her mother's arms. She laughed and smiled, rushing over to hug Enjolras, too. "I can't believe it."

She had actually made it in. Of course, she was only half way there, but the list was so small. So many of the other girls must have gotten cut. Sure, she had been second plenty of times, but for now, she was first. All she had left to do was her solo piece, which Meg had never felt more confident about. She really had a chance, she really was one of the best dancers that had auditioned.

"Oh, Meg, I'm so proud of you," Mrs. Giry said. Meg noticed that she hadn't be called Marguerite, which was always rare. She really must have done something spectacular.

"Thanks, Mom," she replied, feeling like a winner, even if she technically wasn't yet. She could already imagine herself there. Of course, Meg would have to work hard, but maybe, just maybe, she could be great.

It wasn't longer that Meg found herself, once again, in a dance studio. However, this time she wasn't nervous or scared. She felt confident, talented. There was no room for introductions, Meg walked in, took one look at the judges and the music began, an old radio playing out Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Angels.

The dance came effortlessly to her. After all, the local ballet studio did _the Nutcracke_r every Christmas. She had been one of the chorus angels that all little ballerinas are in at one point, but she had never been the solo angel before. It was like a new dance that was still familiar to her. And she was actually doing well. There were no mistakes, no signs of nervousness.

Meg finished her dance in about two minutes time, took her CD out, thanked the panel of people a bit shyly, and left. She sort of felt awkward that she hadn't said more. Was she supposed to say more? Probably not.

"How was it!" her mother exclaimed almost immediately as she left the room. It was like auditioning for American Idol, but not knowing exactly if you were going to Hollywood or not.

"I think it went well," she told them both honestly, "You know, I did a good job. I feel like this part went better than the first part of the auditions, and I..." Meg trailed off, unsure of herself.

"And you what?" Enjolras asked her eagerly.

"I think I'm got in!" she responded, happily running to give him a hug. Enjolras, with his much bigger frame, hugged her back happily, almost lifting her off the ground. Her mother was also quick to hug her, which was also rare. It really was a unique day.

Meg had never felt such a sense of relief. She wouldn't have to deal with all the stress of getting into colleges for her senior year. Everything just seemed better. And sure, there was a chance she hadn't made it, but Meg just had a feeling. She never was one for superstition, but Meg really, truly felt like she had done it.

Mrs. Giry and Enjolras had talked all around her as they unpacked from their hotel rooms to get ready to leave, but Meg was barely on earth. Had she ever been so happy in her life?

They walked back to Grand Central Station and Meg took one last look at the enormous city surrounding her. Maybe, it would be her home one day.

"Goodbye!" she shouted at the building tops, which made Enjolras laugh. "I'm sure we'll meet again!"

There was nothing like New York City, especially with Christmas just around the corner. Grand Central Station in particular looked wonderful decorated in huge, beautiful wreaths for the holiday season. It was true, Meg was slowly falling in love with New York. If she were to attend Tisch, she could always ride the train back to New Hampshire. It sounded perfect, like a dream.

Of course, it was fairly crowded, so they did have to squeeze into the three very back seats of the train. Meg, still lost in her thoughts of happiness, had barely noticed Enjolras pick up a call from his phone. She watched him as his face grew from questioning, to concerned. He hung up after a few minutes, and turned to face her.

"Who was that? Is something wrong?" she asked him quickly. Enjolras was silent for a moment, but then told her exactly what she was fearing he might say.

"That was Raoul, it's Christine..."

* * *

_Ah it's been too long! I had finals, which was not fun, but hopefully this chapter satisfied the long wait. Oh well, I'm on summer break now, which means I can update more quickly. We're actually nearing the end here, because I'm planning on ending the story around Christmas. If you're sick of the where the plot is now, don't worry, it will be changing soon. Please review! _


	20. Chapter 20

Upon returning to New Hampshire, Enjolras was the last of his friends to arrive in his basement. However, unlike their usual get-togethers, Courfeyrac and Combeferre were not playing a fun game of ping-pong, no one was making fun of Prouvaire and Grantaire wasn't even drinking. They just solemnly sat around, talking only in hushed voices.

"I... I got your call," Enjolras said quietly towards Raoul.

Raoul just nodded. The silence was starting to drive Enjolras insane, he looked to Marius for help.

"What happened?"

"The... the ghost is real," Marius said simply, "And he's not a ghost, either. Raoul followed Christine to this graveyard, well, the graveyard where her dad's buried and some guy was there. It was the guy that taught her how to sing and he tried to kidnap her and Raoul saved her, and... it's all just really confusing." Marius's tone changed, his entire face shifted, in fact, to that of annoyance and frustration.

"But someone..." he continued, looking pointedly at Raoul, "Has made up his mind entirely about who this ghost is."

"Marius-" Raoul interjected, clearly angry.

"Who do you think it is?" Enjolras asked.

"Cosette's father."

"Cosette's father?" Enjolras repeated, extremely confused. That was quite possibly the most random suspect Raoul could have come up with.

"I know, what the fuck?"

"Shut up, Marius!" Raoul yelled, "No one else has any better ideas!"

"Where does Cosette's father even come from?" Enjolras asked them again, still very confused. Just a few hours ago, he was celebrating Meg's victory at Tisch and now one of her best friend's father was a creepy murderer? Nothing made sense.

"Stop! Don't even say that!" Marius said, nearly covering his ears in, "That's so creepy and wrong, that's my girlfriend's father!"

"Okay, well, I know this is weird for you," Enjolras told Marius, "But I at least want to hear what Raoul has to say."

"Christine is just going through some hard stuff, harder than I'll ever have to deal with. I would do anything to help her and if this is Jean Valjean's fault... I could kill him," he said, completely serious in his bold statement.

"But why do you think it's this random guy, Jean Valjean?"

"Well, think about it. The Valjean's moved here right when all of this... this stuff started happening. And he's also a potential killer..."

"What?" Enjolras was still hopelessly confused. Was Raoul following Christine down a path of insanity?

"Okay, okay. Well, I don't know that for sure. But, once I was looking at my father's papers, you know, for police things, and there was an unsolved murder..."

"So what?"

"And one of the possible suspects was a man named Jean Valjean."

"Maybe it was a different Jean Valjean," Marius defended weakly. Raoul glared at him.

"Okay, okay. I honestly don't think that that's enough information to convict someone," Enjolras said, hoping that he wouldn't start too much of an argument between his friends.

"But you have to admit, it could make sense," Raoul responded and Enjolras nodded, yes, he could admit that it wasn't completely random.

"But how can we find out?"

"I think if Marius could just get a little closer to him, because of Cosette..."

"I already am close with him! He's a great man. He's kind, and intelligent... Raoul, he isn't a murderer."

"You have to be sure!" he told Marius, "Christine's life is on the line, maybe other people too. Maybe us."

"I... I don't know," Marius said. Noticing the tension in the room, it was Courfeyrac who decided to speak up.

"Maybe we should go back to the church," he suggested.

"Go back? Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Enjolras asked him, but Raoul actually seemed interested in trying it.

"If we all go, we'll be in a big pack. Let's at least try to go down there, what's the worst that could happen?" Raoul suggested.

Courfeyrac's idea seemed to be a good one and the rather large group of boys journeyed to the church. Begrudgingly, Marius and Enjolras followed them. They walked to the church, which actually took a long time.

"This is dumb," Grantaire commented bluntly. He, Enjolras and Marius trailed behind the group on the sidewalks of town. Enjolras just looked at him for a moment.

"Yeah."

"Raoul's being so stupid, I hate him, I hate him!" Marius muttered quietly, "Because you know what? Jean Valjean is a great man. I can't wait to prove them wrong!"

Why was everything so confusing? Between Marius's annoyed rants and Grantaire's always cynical personality, Enjolras wanted to scream.

"I don't even get what's going on," Grantaire said simply.

"Raoul is being an idiot and we're all forced to go on his crusade because he would easily sacrifice us all if he could have Christine back to the way she was," he spat in reply.

Enjolras was honestly starting to hate everyone. And it was all this "ghost's" fault, who may or may not be Marius's girlfriend's father. While listening to Marius's immature protests against Rauol and Grantaire's overall gloomy outlook towards life, Enjolras walked in complete silence until they had reached the church.

Raoul and the other boys stood in somewhat shock and awe. The church was completely deserted, save for police tape reading: DO NOT CROSS.

"So now what?" Grantaire asked them.

"Uh... well... let's go in, right?" Raoul answered him simply.

"You first," Marius muttered.

Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, the group of ten or so boys all stepped over the police tape and journeyed into the church. For Enjolras and Roaul especially, entering the church was an extremely eerie feeling. Neither had been back since the murder. In fact, not many people had.

Raoul in particular was familiar with the church. It was Chrisitne's church, after all. He had come to see her sing more than a few times throughout their childhood. The church was definitely like a second home to Christine, despite the fact it's inhabitant had basically ruined her life.

"What has Christine told you?" Enjolras asked Raoul, beginning to warm up to the idea of scoping out the church. They had to help somehow.

"About the ghost? Nothing."

"Okay, so he likes music, because he gave Christine lessons. He likes music, so I could see his hideout being somewhere near the music room, or well, I don't know. Let's go to the place where they have services..." Enjolras suggested.

"The sanctuary?"

"Yeah, that."

It was true that the bright white sanctuary of the congregational church was beautiful, lined with red cushioned pews. There was even a balcony and an enormous organ. The church was almost European-like, in it's old-fashioned beauty.

Raoul pointed to the organ up in the balcony. "That's where the choir sings. We should go up there."

Marius, in his anger, noticed that some of the boys were actually kind of scared with their surroundings. He could probably be grouped in with them. After all, no one knew anything about this man. Marius had never done anything so rebellious before.

"This organ is huge. I've heard that you can go inside it," Combeferre offered. He inspected the back of the balcony, created without pews so that there was a small area for the choir to sing around the organ's keyboard.. The organ held giant, pretty pipes. It was probably nice to hear it on a Sunday morning.

"Hey! I found the door!" Feuilly announced and everyone rushed over to it. Feuilly carefully pulled away a small square door.

"I think you have to crawl into it, though. Who's first?"

With a rush of adrenaline and a desire to help Christine, Raoul (of course) was the first to volunteer.

They all watched in anticipation as he crawled through the small door. Once he disappeared, Courfeyrac immediately called to him.

"All right, Raoul?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

And it was true. Despite being terrified, Raoul was okay. By crawling through the little door, he had arrived in a spacious, square-sized little room filled with silver pipes of all sizes. It was like a tiny, walk in closet just of organ pipes. However, that still wasn't all of the organ's interior.

To his surprise, three or four stairs led up to an entirely new section of the organ. Like the other part of it's interior, long, silver pipes scaled the walls of an at least ten feet long path. The organ really was huge. If it wasn't such a dire situation, Raoul would have thought it was very pretty.

"Should someone else come in?" Enjolras called to him.

Before he could answer, the enormous pipes of the organ shook, rocking Raoul back and forth until he fell on the platform. Someone was playing the organ. The sound was deafening, being on the inside of a working organ was like torture.

Raoul attempted to block out the sounds by pressing on his ears, but nothing could keep out the terrible sounds. His ears felt like they were being stabbed, he was surprised he hadn't passed out. Raoul wished he could just pass out, it would be a million times better than listening to the pipes bellow directly in his ears. He had to figure out how to get out.

"Stop playing!" he shrieked. "Cut it out!"

"We're not doing anything!" Marius responded, "The organ is playing itself!"

"What?! Just stop it! Please!" Raoul shouted back. He was in so much pain he could hardly move. With the sound still blasting in his ears, Raoul blindly walked around on his hands and knees until he finally plunged into a dark hole, hearing a mixture of the organ blaring and his friends screaming.

* * *

_Ah twenty chapters, thank you so much everyone! Sorry for another cliffhanger guys :/ You can expect another chapter soon. Believe it or not, we are nearing the end. Hope you enjoyed, please review :) _


	21. Chapter 21

After hearing Raoul's screams, Marius was genuinely terrified. He wanted to run away and stay at the same time. His heart was beating faster and his head was flooded with guilt. What if Raoul was dead, and his last memory of Marius was him being so nasty and mean?

"Raoul!" called Combeferre, "Raoul, can you hear me?!"

No response.

"Raoul!" tried Enjolras. Still, no response. They all assumed the worst, that Raoul's disappearance was a result of the mysterious ghost. "Let him go!" Enjolras shouted, his voice strong and dead serious. "Leave him alone!" Still, no response.

"Okay, wee have to go down there," Combeferre said, "We can't just leave him." There was mutual nods of heads in agreement, some still absolutely shocked by what had happened.

"I'll go," Marius offered, already heading into the organ.

"Marius what are you doing?" Courfeyrac asked him, trying to pull him away from the organ, "You could be killed!" The silence in the room was eerie, each boy was reminded of Raoul's disappearance.

"You know what, I'm going to go too. I have nothing to loose anyway," Grantaire announced, grabbing Marius's arm, "But we have to hurry."

Enjolras watched as his two best friends quickly climbed into the organ's interior and vanished from sight. He could only imagine where Raoul was and where they were going.

"Hey, wait up!" he called to Grantaire and Marius, hurrying into the organ after them. Enjolras couldn't leave them. Despite the fact he was positively terrified, he reasoned there was no better death than fighting alongside best friends.

Rushing into the inside of the organ, Enjolras was met with a small room of giant, silver pipes which only led to a skinny, long hall of more and more pipes. The quiet was creepy. Marius and Grantaire were nowhere in sight.

"Guys..." he called in almost a whisper, afraid of disappearing himself, "Guys!"

"Shut up, Enjolras," Marius said, putting a hand over his mouth. They were directly behind him. Despite feeling like an idiot, he still was relieved.

The three of them cautiously walked along the organ's floor, each becoming more scared with every step they took, unaware of their surroundings. They walked slowly in a straight line led by Enjolras in the front, then Grantaire and Marius carrying the end. None were brave enough to call out; "Raoul!" They were dead silent.

They walked slowly throughout the hallway of pipes, until Enjolras backed up in a jolt. Grantaire looked over his shoulder, and gazed in shock at the gaping hole in the floor, that had opened up when Enjolras's foot touched that area. He surely would have fallen. That was just too close.

"Let's go down," Marius said. It wasn't a question, all three were in complete agreement. They had to go down and find Raoul.

"I'll go first," Enjolras volunteered.

"No, no. I'll go first," Grantaire said, moving Enjolras away from the hole.

"Why you?"

"I'm the biggest. I mean, it depends on how deep this thing is, but I might be able to help you guys down."

Neither Marius nor Enjolras could argue with that logic, and watched as Grantaire plunged into the black unknown, his teeth grit and his hands in fists. Both held their breath and couldn't let air in again until they heard Grantaire's voice call up to them.

"I can't help you guys down," he told them.

To Grantaire's surprise, a lake had broken his fall, a fall which had actually been very deep. It was at least eight (probably more) feet. Instead of shouting out for Raoul again, he squinted his eyes and just vaguely saw a boat on the water, led by a lantern, but concealed by mist.

"A boat, on a lake, under a church," he muttered in astonishment, "Who could have guessed?"

A few moments later, he heard two identical splashes. Marius and Enjolras.

As if there landings in the water weren't loud enough, Marius stupidly began to call to Raoul, but Grantaire managed to quiet him despite the darkness.

"There's someone on the lake... in a boat... I think Raoul's there," he reasoned.

"But wait... what if Raoul fell in the lake and drowned?" Enjolras questioned him.

"I don't know. Raoul wouldn't drown, unless there was a struggle. I think we should follow the boat."

"He's right," Marius said, agreeing with Enjolras, "We're just going to have to swim across."

With terror in their hearts, the three boys swam across the lake, which luckily was fairly calm waters. However, none could believe that such a great body of water was under their own town's church. It was unbelievable.

If anything, they were going to find Raoul.

The water they swam in became shallower and shallower until they had emerged back on dry- but, still sort of damp and cold- land. All three shivered, their clothes stuck to them from the lake's water.

They wandered out of the water and blindly arrived at what looked like an underground cave. All three boys couldn't deny their horror, they walked closely together and as quietly as possible.

"No matter what's in there, we have each others backs, right?" Enjolras asked his friends, "Because we're going to find Raoul, right?"

"Right," Marius said. Grantaire nodded by his side.

Enjolras led the way and with a deep breath approached towards the home, inching closer and closer. It was so bizarre to them, how could there be an entire building and a lake underground? Did someone truly live there?

If anything, they just had to find their friend and get out. Marius watched as Enjolras quietly opened the door and listened, in anguish, as the door creaked slightly.

Marius just wanted to go home, above ground, lie down in dry clothes and go to bed. Underground and soaking wet, with the threat of death hanging over them was the last place he wanted to be.

The door slowly opened to a dark home. There was no electricity, only a few, dimly lit candles illuminated the room. They cautiously were led into a damp house, with only three rooms that led to a hallway of chairs and a simple kitchen table.

However, what they noticed about the house in particular was artwork. All kinds of art- half composed symphonies, paintings, drawings, poems and sonnets covered the floors and were pinned up on the walls.

With a shaking hand, Marius picked up one of the drawings and an eerily similar brunette girl smiled back at them. It was Christine. The drawing was exactly of Christine, looking more like a photograph than freehand artwork. They looked all around them. Everything was Christine.

Christine smiling, Christine reading, Christine singing, Christine sleeping. Everything was Christine. Even the sonnets or the musical pieces were simply named "Christine," or at least something amongst that wavelength.

"Put that down," a foreign voice commanded. All three stood rigid, their blood ran cold. This was the end, they were going to die in a terrible, cold and dark place.

Marius obeyed the voice and Enjolras and Grantaire watched as the smiling picture of Christine fell back down to the floor.

Enjolras drew in a deep breath, he was sacred, but was also becoming angry. "Where's our friend?"

The man laughed and Enjolras instantly recognized the sound, bringing him instantly back to the death of the church's minister. "Where is he? Just leave us alone!"

Marius peered around the house, trying to forget his fear. He could feel the presence of the mysterious man in the room, he had never been so scared in his life. And there was nothing he could do to help himself. Upon looking closer, Marius could see Raoul lying on the floor, very far away in the room. It was impossible to tell if he was breathing or not. He just wanted to go home.

The man stepped closer into the light and revealed himself to them. He was extremely tall, he towered above the others, but was also very skinny. The man was fairly nicely dressed as well. However, the most striking part of his appearance was undoubtedly his face. He had nicely kept, dark hair and half of his face was undeniably handsome. The other half was covered by a porcelain looking mask that was a contrast to his dark exterior, his mask was delicate and a pure white color.

He looked menacing and terrifying, but somehow gentle and romantic at the same time.

The man had emerged from the darkness with one purpose, he attacked Marius, slipping an old-styled noose around his neck. In a panic, Marius quickly put his hands on his neck, trying to prevent the rope from tightening anymore. Enjolras let out a shout of terror, wanting to help his friend, but had no idea how.

It was Grantaire who had thought quickly. In a matter of seconds, he had grabbed the only sharp knife lying on the kitchen table and held it against the man's neck. It was the best matter of defense he could think of. The man stumbled back a bit and realized he was actually in danger.

Enjolras had never seen Grantaire act so fierce before, holding a knife in his shaking hand, he had become just as scary. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you," Grantaire said in an almost animal-like growl. "Leave him alone."

"You can't kill me with that knife, it's too dull," the man said, sounding confident in himself. With his own life in danger, their mysterious terrorizer became more and more human.

"Watch me," Grantaire responded, digging the knife deeper into the man's skin. Marius, meanwhile, stood in quiet horror. Enjolras could only watch them, feeling stupid.

He decided to walk towards Raoul. The room was dark, but Enjolras had managed to spot Raoul, who was sleeping... or, at least, hopefully sleeping. Not letting his eyes leave Marius and Grantaire, he approached Raoul.

Enjolras put a hand on his forehead and watched as his stomach unsteadily went up and down. He was definitely alive, at least.

"Come on, Raoul, wake up," Enjolras muttered, lightly hitting his friend's face. Still, he didn't stir.

Grantaire and the man went back and forth in a threatening manner. Marius, at the end of the man's noose, stood timidly and listened to the two men go back and forth. Enjolras was impressed with Grantaire and his quick thinking. He didn't think that his best friend had it in him.

"What are you waiting for, Grantaire?" Enjolras called, "Just kill him! Before he gets Marius!"

Grantaire looked at Enjolras sadly, and he realized that his friend was too afraid to kill the man. Grantaire dug the kitchen knife further into the man's neck, his hand shaking wildly. However, the other man did not have the same issue as he quickly was tightening the rope around Marius's neck, who was meanwhile turning a shade of purple.

Unexpectedly, Grantaire had dropped the knife and kicked the man in the back. Shocked, the man let go of the lasso holding Marius, who himself fell over as the rope loosened. He turned a healthy shade of white again. The man was knocked down by Grantaire's blow and fell on the ground. He was completely defeated.

Raoul was just beginning to get up, and opened his eyes wearily.

"Oh God, where am I?" he asked aimlessly, looking at Enjolras.

"I don't even... we're leaving. Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

Raoul would never know how relieved his friends were at the sound of his voice. He looked over to Grantaire, who triumphantly had a foot on top of the strange man. Enjolras and Raoul walked over to their two friends and looked down at the squirming man, who was trying desperately to escape Grantaire's grasp.

"What should we do with him?" Marius asked quietly.

"I guess call the police and go from there... Raoul, what happened to you?" Enjolras asked. Raoul opened his mouth to explain, but was stopped by the sound of a big sort of crack in the air, a blast of fire, and a man who had disappeared.

All four were shocked, the man was nowhere to be found. He had completely vanished.

"How did that..." Grantaire trailed off.

"I don't know, I just really want to leave," Marius said, "Let's just get out of here."

With extreme fear, the group of four walked out of the house and back through the lake until they found the familiar opening in the wall, accompanied by a ladder. Every noise made them instantly turn their heads. The threat of the man was almost too much to handle.

Climbing up the ladder, the four were met with the familiar sight of the organ. Breathing a small sigh of relief (yet still terrified of running into the man), they raced back in to the church. Their friends still stood, waiting for them and instantly surrounded them, spitting out questions.

"Let's just get out of this church. We just have to go back somewhere else, I want to leave," Grantaire said, despite putting on the bravest face of them all.

"We'll tell you everything later, let's just leave this church." All of the boys seemed to agree and headed out from the church.

While Grantaire, Enjolras and Marius were practically still shaking from the experience, Raoul was livid with anger. He was no longer scared, he was infuriated.

"He was trying to kill me! He was going to kill me because that man- that thing, that freak!- is in love with Christine!" Raoul shouted, his friends looking on.

"I guess it's going to be war between me and that man, that phantom! I'm going to kill him!"

"But, how?" Marius asked him.

"We'll get him on Christmas," he said, thinking o f Christine, "We won't have to look hard for him."

"How do you know?"

"Because... I know Christine is singing... I don't think he would miss that."

"Oh, that's so creepy," Enjolras muttered.

"Well, we're going to get him," Raoul said, growing angrier each time, "He won't escape. This time, the disaster will be his!"

* * *

_Hey guys, hope you enjoyed! This is actually one of our last chapters. I'm working on the very last part, but I'm not sure if I want to split it into multiple chapters or just make one big chapter. So, expect the final part soon. I've had a great time writing this, and although it's not over yet, thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed! You guys are the BEST!_


	22. Chapter 22

Winter had come quickly that year, there was one big snowstorm at the end of November, and before anyone had realized it, Christmas was just around the corner. Christine was getting better and better and with that knowledge, Eponine decided to visit her.

Sure, they weren't that close, but Eponine had wanted to see her for a while. She had never really known anyone to get sick and leave school for anything longer than a couple of weeks, but Christine had been out of school for nearly a month.

Mrs. Daae, a little, Swedish woman who seemed very sad, smiled a bit at the sight of Eponine. "Oh, I'm sure Christine will be happy to see you," she said, leading to a small bedroom at the end of a narrow hallway.

She wasn't sure what she was going to expect, but Christine looked normal. Her nose was a little red and her hair was messy, but she still looked good. Eponine would never understand how some people just always looked nice.

Christine's face perked up a bit at the sight of her friend. "Hey, Eponine!" she called, happy to see someone new. She quickly sat on her friend's bed and the two girls hugged. Eponine really did miss her, and it was definitely good to see she was doing well.

"How do you feel?"

"Oh, a lot better. I'm dying of boredom, actually, it's been awful. I'm coming right back to school once this Christmas break is over. I just have nothing to do!"

"So, you haven't been... you know, having issues?"

"Well, my mother is making me see a therapist. You know, I don't even think I need to go, but you know how mother's are."

Eponine actually didn't have an idea of how a good mother really acted, but let her friend continue.

"But I've been going out and singing and all kinds of things. I'm going to sing a solo for my church's Christmas Eve service," she announced proudly.

"That sounds fun, what time?"

"The eleven o'clock service, you know, it ends at midnight. I'm just excited! It'll be like my official comeback. You should bring your family," Christine offered.

"I would bring Gavroche. Maybe not my parents, though."

"Oh, I understand," Christine said sincerely, "Atheists?"

Eponine hesitated. "Yeah."

"Hey, Courfeyrac!" Raoul called from the bottom of the church. As expected, Raoul had forced all of his friends to come down to the First Church of Alfred, on Christmas Eve, no less.

"What?" he called back, standing to the far left of the church's balcony.

"Can you completely see the big doors in the front?"

"Yes," Courfeyrac responded. Enjolras, Marius and Grantaire (even Grantaire had been convinced to come for the Christmas Eve service) stood beside him, all not really sure what to say.

"Can't we just call the police and be done with this?" Grantaire asked lazily, which only infuriated Raoul more.

"No, we cannot!" he snapped, "Shut up!"

Grantaire opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something as equally nasty back (which they all knew he was capable of), but just made a sour face and resolved to stay quiet.

"Here, Marius," Raoul said, handing him a gun.

Marius, wide-eyed, held the shiny revolver in his hands and wordlessly followed Raoul's finger to where he was pointing.

"Do you have a clear view of the organ?" he asked the shocked boy. Marius nodded. "Remember, when the time comes, shoot. Only if you have to, but shoot to kill."

"But how will I know?"

Raoul looked at him, his entire expression had changed. He was hardly their funny, light-hearted friend anymore. He looked vicious, but also determined. "You'll know," he responded quietly, but with the up most seriousness.

Enjolras looked back and forth, to the scheming Raoul and Marius, who was looking more and more like he wouldn't be able to handle a gun. "Marius, you're not shooting anyone," Enjolras told him, getting increasingly more annoyed. "Where did you even get a gun, Raoul?"

"My dad," he answered. Enjolras sighed.

"Why can't you shoot?"

"Because I'm going to stay near the front, where Christine will be. I wouldn't want to shoot anyone by accident."

"Well, Marius isn't going to kill anyone. Here, I'll do it," he said, taking the weapon away from his younger friend.

"Whatever," Raoul said, dismissing the three of them. They watched as he stormed away, fury still in his eyes.

"Asshole," Grantaire muttered. Marius snickered, but Enjolras just shook his head.

Cosette had successfully convinced her father to come to the Alfred Church's Christmas service. Of course, she wouldn't miss Christine's singing. Actually, she and Meg had even gotten her flowers, which they were going to hide under a pew.

Meg and her mother arrived not much later and sat beside the Valjean's. The Giry's were not 'religious people,' but they usually did attend Christmas and Easter services. Meg and Cosette gushed a little together, excited about Christine's solo.

"This is going to be nice," Cosette remarked, "I think she'll do great."

"Yeah, I know!" Meg responded.

They talked a little while longer. It was still about fifteen minutes before the service started, but it was difficult to find a seat for the eleven o'clock service on Christmas Eve. As expected, the church was packed, filled with dozens of people who had just arrived from a nice, Christmas dinner with family.

"Hi, Cosette," the girls heard a voice say and they both turned around. To Meg and Cosette's surprise, it was Marius, who was making his way to sit with them.

"Oh, hello Marius!" Cosette responded and Meg looked in wonder at the couple. Marius was clearly a bit shy to see her, while Cosette looked down shyly and turned a light shade of pink. Weren't they already dating? Meg decided to brush their odd embarrassment aside, because they were very cute together.

"Nice to see you, Marius," Jean Valjean remarked, shaking his hand.

Marius realized- with a jolt- that Jean Valjean was in fact there, at the church. He could only imagine what Raoul would do if he found out.

Enjolras, meanwhile, had hidden Raoul's gun in his coat for the time being as more people entered the church. No matter what his friend wanted, Enjolras wasn't going to be shooting anyone that Christmas Eve.

As all of his friends had been "stationed" in different areas, Enjolras trekked upstairs to sit in the balcony, feeling quite lonely. He now basically just wanted to go back home and wake up the next morning for his last ever Christmas with his family before leaving for college.

"Enjolras?" a voice said. Realizing who it was, he quickly spun around.

"Oh, Eponine!" he responded, in shock. He hadn't seen her since his conversation with Meg in New York and could feel his face getting hot. "Hi."

Considering it was church, Eponine had dressed nicely, in a pretty black skirt and white blouse. Enjolras hadn't noticed it for about seven years or so, but she was very good-looking. It was probably because she had a habit of dressing boyish all the time, but she really was beautiful.

"You look sick. Are you alright?" she asked him bluntly, as Enjolras just noticed that she had brought Gavroche with her. His eyes widened at the thought of blushing because of Eponine and instantly managed to calm down.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I don't know, I came to see Christine. I could ask you the same question."

"Oh, I'm here because..." he stumbled. Because he was helping Raoul try and kill a strange, only possibly real man who was after Christine? He was screwed.

"Where are your parents?" she questioned him and quickly wondered aloud (perhaps by accident), "Is Marius here?"

"Marius is here," Eponine said, answering her own question. By leaning slightly over the balcony, she could clearly make out her best friend, but slumped back into her seat when she realized he was with Cosette and her father. "Why aren't you sitting with them?"

"Um... I..." Enjolras was so screwed. "Because, I saw you coming up here, and I wanted to come see you. It's Christmas, after all," he said. Enjolras quietly rewarded himself for coming up with such a good response.

"Oh... Thanks. That's nice of you," she remarked, "But I still don't understand why you came."

Enjolras sighed. There was no point in lying to Eponine. "Well, okay, I'm going to tell you, but you can't tell anyone. And it's just really weird and it won't make a lot of sense, because it doesn't really make sense to me..."

"Well, that's okay," Eponine told him, "You can tell me."

Enjolras opened his mouth, but at the same time, so did the minister. The service was about to start, he would have to explain later.

Erik had been nothing but miserable. He had been crying- and he did not cry. Erik hadn't cried, really cried, since he was a kid, maybe fourteen at most.

Christine. Christine. Christine. The name kept echoing in his mind, almost as much as the name Raoul did. He hated Raoul Chagny. Erik hated him! Why did she love him so much?

He had watched Raoul from a distance quite a few times and it was true, he was very handsome. And as far as he could tell, kind. Oh, he was just too perfect.

But Erik had truly ruined everything a few days ago.

It was on a Sunday, after church, when Christine had gone without her mother to the town's local graveyard, where he realized her father was buried. Curious about her dead father, Erik followed Christine there.

She had gotten very emotional at the large tombstone that read the name: Gustave Daae. Christine touched it gently and laid flowers down. She just stared at the name and cried. It was amazing, Erik thought, to watch how passionately Christine still loved and missed her father. As far as he knew, Gustave Daae had been dead for years.

It sincerely hurt him to see her so sad, because he loved her so much.

The rest of what happened was almost a blur to him. It all occurred so fast, Erik could hardly recall it. He had tried to kidnap her, Erik tried to convince Christine that he was her father. She was almost going to go with him... he almost had her.

But then Raoul suddenly arrived, out of nowhere, and they both ran away. He may as well have ridden in on a white horse.

Erik was angry, he had been angry. He hated Raoul. Erik had never truly been angry before. Of all the abuse and horrified stares he had received, it only ever lead to sadness. And in turn, his sadness became beautiful music. Anger... but anger was just something he couldn't understand. He couldn't control it, and he had been living with it for days now. It hadn't subsided or gone away, he was still livid, he still hated Raoul.

In his anger, Erik had lost track of time. He hadn't eaten, he barely slept and days had gone by. It was around midnight, he realized, but he could still hear voice from above. Why were people still awake, and at church? Erik quickly remembered what day it was, Christmas Eve. Christine was no longer with him to tell him about the Christmas service.

Christine. He missed her so much. She was like a breath of fresh air to him, a light in his darkness. She was Erik's last and only connection to the world above him, without her he was just a non-existent wretch.

Effortlessly, Erik was able to sneak up above to the church and grab a program for the night's service. He truly was like a ghost and was a seasoned professional at not being noticed.

As he expected, it looked like a typical Christmas Eve service; fairly long and with plenty of dull sermons. Erik wondered who would be leading the service this year as he remembered- without remorse- he had killed the last minister.

His eyes lit up at one name: Christine Daae, soloist. Christine was going to sing a solo? His heart soared. Christine was going to sing a solo!

Erik hadn't even thought to look at what she was singing. "I Wonder as I Wander," was the name of the song, a song he had taught her! Yes, he had taught it to her a while ago, but she was going to sing.

Perhaps she didn't completely hate him. Perhaps she didn't know any good songs he hadn't taught her. Whatever her reasoning was, Erik was going to watch her.

In fact, he couldn't wait.

Christine couldn't help but be nervous. She sat in the choir loft and slowly watched as the entire church filled up with people. Christmas, of course, was always the most popular service, but really... had there always been so many people?

She had expected Raoul and Meg to come see her definitely, but it was also nice of Cosette to come. Christine also noticed Eponine had come with her brother, which was also nice of her. But what was Enjolras doing there? She just barely knew him, they weren't very close. In fact, Raoul had seemed to invite every single one of his friends. At least ten boys from school were randomly scattered through the church. None of the seemed to be sitting with family, either. Even that guy who always got drunk and graduated the year before (Christine couldn't remember his name, Enjolras was good friends with him) was there.

Of course, if she messed up her solo horribly, it would only be in front of a handful of strangers, friendly acquaintances who probably wouldn't mind and her very close circle of friends. Now, Christine felt like she was on display for the entire school to watch her sing.

It wasn't that she was nervous- Christine knew "I Wonder as I Wander" inside and out. The Angel of Music was the one who had taught it to her.

Oh, Erik. She wasn't supposed to, but she missed him. It was just incredible to think about how much he had changed. She missed him, even though he killed Minister Martin. They understood each other, somehow, for some reason. And secretly, deep down, she was hoping that perhaps he might listen to her sing.

Raoul felt sick. His eyes were blurry and his hands trembled, he could barely see the world around him. All of his thoughts were stuck on the Angel of Music, he was looking only for him. From the front of the church, he kept his eyes glued on the organ.

He had barely even noticed it, but Christine was walking up to sing. Raoul smiled. She looked happy, genuinely happy, for the first time in a long time. She didn't seem nervous.

She had a pretty voice. Raoul had always thought so, but she really was very good. Maybe all her dreams of singing opera in famous concert halls weren't just dreams. Even if the Angel of Music was a terrible, evil murderer, he must have been an amazing teacher.

Suddenly, lost in his enjoyment, he realized that every light in the church went dark. One by one, every light on the brand new chandelier turned off. Christine, trying to stay professional, continued to sing, until the church was pitch black.

Before he could react, he heard a scream, a gun shot and the lights went back on again. Christine was gone.

* * *

_Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry I took so long. I decided to split the end into two parts (could you imagine if that was the end? I wouldn't do that!), but definitely expect the last and final chapter to come very soon. You guys are the best! _


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